The women who served in the real U.S. military Team Lioness are speaking out against Taylor Sheridan‘s Paramount+ series. They say the show used their name and wartime experiences but changed the story into something completely different. Original members of the team are upset that the popular spy thriller does not show what they actually did during the Iraq War.
The series, which is now in its third season, follows a secret CIA task force. The characters, played by Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman, are operatives who befriend the wives and daughters of terrorists to stop attacks. Sheridan has said the show was inspired by the real Team Lioness program. But the real women behind that program say the show got their history wrong.
Real Team Lioness Veterans Speak Out Against the Show
Ranie Ruthig, one of the original members of Team Lioness, is leading the criticism. She told The Telegraph that the show does not follow what her unit actually did.
“It makes me mad that it doesn’t follow what we did at all. They took the Team Lioness name and twisted it into a spy thing. I like Taylor Sheridan’s writing – I’ve watched his other shows – but he took our history and kind of corrupted it.”
Ruthig served as a mechanic with the 1st Engineer Battalion in Ramadi, Iraq. She was also featured in the 2008 documentary Lioness, which told the real story of the team. Her unit became the first all-female team in U.S. military history to take part in offensive ground combat missions.
Michelle Dallocchio, who served with Team Lioness in 2004 and 2005, also shared her frustration. She said using the team’s name for a fictional CIA drama feels wrong.
“It feels like appropriation. I see a really complicated women’s wartime history repackaged into something safer and sanitized for mass consumption – while erasing the actual women who lived it.”
What the Real Team Lioness Actually Did
The real Team Lioness was formed by the U.S. Marine Corps in 2003 during the Iraq War. The group had nothing to do with the CIA. The women were mechanics, engineers, and combat medics. They were not spies or assassins.
At that time, U.S. military policy did not allow women in direct combat roles. But the women of Team Lioness still found themselves in dangerous situations. They worked alongside male soldiers to protect translators and search Iraqi women at checkpoints. Male soldiers could not perform these searches due to cultural rules.
Kate Guttormsen, a captain and the only female company commander in the 1st Engineer Battalion, explained what the team actually did.
“We would do anything from going to schools and handing out soccer balls to finding intel.”
The women built relationships with local communities and gathered important information. They became some of the first female service members in U.S. history to engage in offensive ground combat operations. But despite their contributions, many of them never received proper recognition.
The Big Difference Between the Show and Reality
The Paramount+ series Lioness shows a covert CIA program. In the show, female operatives go undercover to get close to dangerous individuals. The real Team Lioness was not a CIA operation at all.
Rebecca Martinez, another former Lioness, shared a painful memory about how her service was dismissed. A psychiatrist once told her she could not have PTSD because she was a female support soldier.
“I had a psychiatrist tell me I didn’t know what PTSD was because I was a supporting MOS and female. You’re telling me I don’t have PTSD after seeing my battle buddies being shot? After seeing kids get shot? After being shot at myself?”
This shows how the real women of Team Lioness have long felt overlooked. They served in combat zones and faced real danger. But their experiences were often minimized because of their gender.
Daria Sommers, who co-directed the 2008 documentary Lioness, said the show’s use of the name is the main problem.
“The key thing is it has no basis in reality. I’m not critiquing Nicole Kidman or Zoe Saldaña – they should get all the kick-ass adventure roles they want. But if Taylor Sheridan had called the show something else, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”
Sommers also hosts a 12-episode podcast called The Lioness Origin Story, where she discusses the real team’s history and how the show compares.
Sheridan’s Response to the Criticism
Taylor Sheridan has said that Lioness is inspired by true events, not a direct retelling. During an interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, he talked about his approach to the show.
“The fun thing about ‘Lioness,’ which is, I can’t say ripped from the headlines, because I’ve tried to guess what’s going to happen politically and then fictionalize that.”
Sheridan first learned about the idea for the show from actress Jill Wagner. She plays CIA contractor Bobby in the series. Wagner reportedly told Sheridan she wanted to create a show about female heroes but worried someone else would take the idea first.
Related:
How to Watch ‘Lioness’
Lioness is available exclusively on Paramount+. The streaming service offers two main plans in the U.S. The Essential plan costs $8.99 per month and includes ads. The Premium plan costs $13.99 per month and is mostly ad-free. It also includes Showtime, downloads, and live CBS access.
New episodes of Season 3 arrive on Sundays. The show has drawn strong viewership, with over 7 million people watching the third season in its first week.
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