Former CIA officer Christina Hillsberg and war documentary filmmaker Daria Sommers told PEOPLE that ‘Lioness’ accurately captures the emotional toll of military and intelligence work

NEED TO KNOW

• Lioness follows an elite CIA team that recruits female operatives to infiltrate terrorist organizations
• The series stars Zoe Saldaña and Nicole Kidman and airs on Sundays on Paramount+
• While Lioness is fictional, its does draw inspiration from real-life military programs and operations

Lioness pulls audiences into the high-stakes world of military and intelligence operations, but the series has also taken creative liberties, blending authentic elements of espionage and military life with Hollywood action and drama.

Jill Wagner, who plays Bobby in the Paramount+ series, brought the idea for the show to creator Taylor Sheridan. Raised in a military family, Wagner was inspired by her husband, David Lemanowicz, a U.S. Army Reserve Major, who told her about the real-life Lioness program.

The show’s use of the Lioness name, however, has sparked some controversy. In the series, Lioness is portrayed as a covert CIA program staffed by women recruited from various branches of the military. In reality, the program began in the U.S. Army during the Iraq War, pairing female soldiers with combat units to search local women during raids and checkpoints, since male soldiers were culturally barred from doing so.

Daria Sommers knows that history well. She and filmmaker Meg McLagan spent years documenting the experiences of the real-life women who served for their 2008 documentary, Lioness.

“If they had called the show something else, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Sommers tells PEOPLE. “My interest is not in critiquing the TV series but pointing out how the show’s use of the honorific Lioness muddies the already vulnerable history of these women veterans.” (PEOPLE understands that the hit series is a fictional narrative that draws inspiration from real-life elements.)

PEOPLE also spoke with former CIA intelligence officer Christina Hillsberg about the show’s depiction of the Agency. While its combat scenarios stray far from reality, Hillsberg appreciates that Lioness showcases versatile women and captures some of the emotional realities of the work.

“They do a really good job of portraying how intensely personal intelligence relationships can be between a case officer and an asset,” she says. “It can be extraordinary emotional pressure.”

Here’s what’s fact, what’s fiction and where Lioness takes creative liberties.

Was the real-life Lioness program created by the CIA?

Lioness revolves around Joe McNamara (Zoe Saldaña), who leads a covert CIA program of female operatives tasked with infiltrating terrorist organizations. Her unit works alongside a Quick Reaction Force (QRF), a highly trained military team that can rapidly deploy in response to a crisis.

The real Team Lioness wasn’t a CIA program or an elite combat unit. The initiative began within the U.S. Army during the Iraq War in 2003 to address a practical need: searching and interacting with Iraqi women.

Cultural norms made it inappropriate for male soldiers to physically search women at checkpoints and during raids. Female soldiers — including mechanics, supply specialists and engineers — volunteered to step away from their regular duties and accompany combat units to fill that gap, according to Sommers.

The concept eventually spread beyond the Army, with the Marines launching their own Lioness program in 2005. Given that history, Sommers says women who served as Lionesses are disappointed that Sheridan used the name for a fictional program that bears little resemblance to the one they were part of.

“To tell a story that has nothing to do with them, has nothing to do with their history, that’s where they feel wronged,” she says.

Are CIA agents trained for combat?

Joe’s team of Lionesses, including Joe herself, are highly trained in both espionage and combat. Hillsberg says that in reality, most CIA officers don’t even carry weapons.

She went on to explain that CIA officers rely heavily on diplomatic skills, including active listening, empathy, emotional intelligence and conflict resolution.

They receive firearms training and learn defensive driving, she says, but rarely carry weapons in their day-to-day work.

“It really is a lot more soft skills than people realize. The pen is mightier than the sword,” she adds.

Would the CIA send a case officer to identify a high-value target?

In season 3, episode 1, the CIA sends Joe and her team to Ukraine to help apprehend Aleksi Yurimov (Jack Dimich), the head of Russia’s Special Tasks Department (SSD). Once there, however, Joe learns that she’ll be the only member of her team taking part in the operation.

The unit’s commander, Amber Whalen (Dawn Olivieri), explains that the military needs Joe to positively identify Yurimov because it can’t securely access the intelligence needed to confirm his identity in the field.

According to Hillsberg, that scenario “would never happen,” as the CIA and the military have secure systems for sharing sensitive information.

“That’s crazy to put an agency officer at risk in a situation like that,” she says. “I could see bringing in an agency expert to brief military colleagues beforehand or to debrief. But I can’t imagine a scenario in which a case officer would be carrying a gun and going in with special forces.”

Still, Hillsberg confirms Lioness gets one aspect of the CIA-military dynamic right: The tension between the two organizations is real.

“That definitely exists,” she adds.

Did the real-life Lioness program send women undercover?

Team Lioness’ mission was very different from what’s portrayed in Lioness. The program was created to bridge a cultural gap: Male U.S. soldiers could not appropriately interact with or search Iraqi women, so Lionesses stepped in.

Their work extended beyond searches. Sommers says the women interacted with Iraqi women and children, sometimes handing out candy and sharing makeup tips.

“They were just engaging, networking in a way,” she says. “The overall mission was to connect with the [Iraqi] women because the women could often find out where the weapons were and who the bad guys were.”

But their role also put them alongside combat units at a time when Department of Defense policy barred women from being assigned to certain direct ground combat positions, according to the ACLU.

As the insurgency intensified in the spring of 2004, some Lionesses found themselves in violent firefights in Ramadi despite not being officially assigned to combat roles, the soldiers recalled in the 2008 documentary Lioness.

That disconnect followed the women home. Because their official military records reflected jobs such as clerks and mechanics rather than combat assignments, many Lionesses struggled to receive recognition and support for what they had experienced on the ground, including from the Department of Veterans Affairs, per Sommers.

Are CIA agents allowed to divulge info to their spouses?

Joe’s husband, Dr. Neal McNamara (Dave Annable), knows that she works for the CIA, though exactly how much he knows about her work remains unclear.

When Joe’s job begins spilling into their home life, the couple start having more candid conversations about what she does. In response, Neal grows increasingly concerned for his family’s safety.

“I think seeing how their marriage plays out is one of the reasons why a lot of people marry other agency officers,” says Hillsberg, whose husband is also a former CIA officer.

“It’s so common to have tandem couples because you don’t have to justify your job in the same way because you are married to someone who has also taken on that same oath,” she adds.

But marrying another CIA officer isn’t the only option.

Hillsberg explains that officers have been encouraged to bring their spouses into the fold, which can make the demands of the job easier to navigate — and sometimes even prove useful operationally.

“[Spouses] can be very useful in getting close to your target’s spouse,” Hillsberg says. “[For example:] You’re having the target and his family over for dinner, and now the wives are over there talking, and you’re using your spouse operationally.”

Do CIA agents have trackers embedded in their skin?

In season 3, episode 1, fans watch as special ops soldier Cody Spears (Sheridan) cuts a tracker from Yurimov’s left armpit.

Then, in episode 2, Joe gives in and tells her Russian captors that her own tracker is embedded in the big toe of her left foot.

But according to Hillsberg, the idea that CIA agents routinely have trackers implanted in their bodies is pure fiction.

“That’s probably one of my biggest gripes with the show,” she says, explaining that it’s also unrealistic for an agent to have a team constantly monitoring their whereabouts.

“In day-to-day espionage operations, there’s no team making sure you’re safe. That’s why the training is so important, because you are out there on your own,” Hillsberg adds.

Do foreign intelligence agencies use honeypotting in espionage?

Hillsberg appreciated the way Ukrainian double agent Oleksandra Balakin (Elizaveta Neretin) explains the relationship between Russia, China and the United States.

“Russia’s a wolf pack, China is the tiger, and you’re the bear. A wolf pack cannot kill the bear — the bear’s too big. And the tiger cannot kill the bear alone,” Oleksandra tells Joe’s team in season 3, episode 3. “Wolf pack and tiger cannot play nicely together, so they don’t play at all. So, how do they fight you? What kills the bear? Disease kills the bear, and they’ve been infecting you for many years.”

Oleksandra goes on to describe espionage as one way Russia has been “infecting” the U.S., claiming that everyone from school superintendents and reporters to high-ranking government officials can be turned into assets.

According to Hillsberg, foreign intelligence services employ a variety of tactics to recruit and compromise targets, including honeypotting — using romantic or sexual relationships to gain information, exert influence or create leverage over someone.

“There’s espionage going on around us all the time, particularly somewhere like Washington, D.C. and New York City,” she says.

While U.S. civilians will likely never be involved in these discreet operations, Lioness offers a Hollywood version for many to enjoy. “I think they do a really good job of discussion around it, this season in particular,” Hillsberg adds.

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