Special Ops: Lioness Star Zoe Saldana: "I Don't Feel Like I Play Strong Women, I Feel Like I Play Women"

Following roles in the Avatar Star Trek, and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises, Zoe Saldana has become synonymous with playing memorable female protagonists. One of the latest to join her roster is Joe on the Paramount+ series Special Ops: Lioness — and she is sharing new insight into her approach towards playing those characters. While speaking to ComicBook.com about her role in Special Ops: Lioness, Season 1 of which is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray, Saldana addressed how she chooses which role to play, and revealed that more often than not, she happens to embody characters who have recognizable or empowering traits.

"I feel like there's not much difference with any of them, because here's the thing: I don't feel like I play strong women. I feel like I play women," Saldana explained. "Women are strong, and women are smart, and women are the ones that are the brains most of the time. At least in my world, I surround myself with the women that have raised me. The women that mentor me are the women that sustain the entire ecosystems. So I've never particularly signed up to play a sad woman or a badass woman. I've signed up always to play a woman whose traits I recognize, either as traits that are my own, or traits that are of women around me that I know to be who they are. And then the fun part is when you paint, when you paint them green, and when you paint them blue, and when you put them in a planet like Pandora, that's the icing on the cake."

What Is Special Ops: Lioness About?

SPECIAL OPS: LIONESS, inspired by an actual U.S. Military program, follows the life of Joe (Saldaña) while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA's spear in the war on terror. The Lioness Program, overseen by Kaitlyn Meade (Kidman) and Donald Westfield (Kelly), enlists an aggressive Marine Raider named Cruz (De Oliveira) to operate undercover alongside Joe among the power brokers of State terrorism in the CIA's efforts to thwart the next 9/11.

From Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan, Special Ops: Lioness stars series lead and executive producer Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Emmy Award nominee Michael Kelly, with Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman, and Academy Award winner and executive producer Nicole Kidman. It also features series regulars Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Stephanie Nur and Hannah Love Lanier.

Would Zoe Saldana Join James Gunn's DCU?

Following the culmination of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 last year, many have wondered if that film's cast will follow James Gunn over to his new job co-leading DC Studios. As Saldana told ComicBook.com in the same interview, she would be more than willing to fill a role in Gunn's DC Universe, if the opportunity came up.

"Yes, I do, I do. I love the superhero universe of any sort," Saldana said. "I have sons that are obsessed with comic books right now, and superheroes, so for me to be a part of projects that they will get to watch for the next 10, 15 years of their whole lives, it's a dream for me... If it never gets to happen, or if it happens with other filmmakers, and not James Gunn, or if it happens again with James Gunn, I would be so grateful."

What do you think of Zoe Saldana's new comments? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Special Ops: Lioness Season One is available now on DVD and Blu-Ray.