Michael Kelly is not sparing the superlatives. In a recent interview with ScreenRant, the Lioness actor—who plays CIA Deputy Director of Operations Byron Westfield on Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ spy thriller—called his boss a “standalone talent,” one of the smartest people he has met, and a storyteller working at a scale almost no one else in television is matching. The praise comes as season 3 of Lioness lands with what Kelly describes as a “bats— crazy,” epic swing that he rates above the first two seasons.
“There’s nobody who’s doing or has ever done what he’s doing”
Kelly, 57, did not hedge. “I think he’s truly a standalone talent,” he told ScreenRant in August. “There’s nobody who’s doing or has ever done what he’s doing. It’s incredible what he does. And he’s just one of the smartest dudes you’ll ever meet.” He went further: “He’s f—ing brilliant, man. Brilliant. And just one of the greatest storytellers.”
That assessment sits against Sheridan’s current footprint. He is the architect of the Yellowstone universe—Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Marshals, Dutton Ranch—and of Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, Lioness, Landman and The Madison. The casts that attach to those titles (Kevin Costner, Demi Moore, Michelle Pfeiffer and many others) are, in Kelly’s view, not an accident of packaging. “Everyone wants to say those words,” he said. “He’s that good.”
Put me in, coach
Sheridan’s productions have long recycled a pool of trusted performers across shows. Kelly said there are no active plans for Lioness characters to cross into other Sheridan series, but he has already volunteered for whatever comes next. “I’ve never thought about how the shows could cross over, but I have told Taylor, I’m like, ‘Bro, anything you ever want me to do, I’ll do. I love being in Texas. I love saying your words. Anything, dude. You can put me in. Put me in, coach. Wherever you want to put me, I’ll go.’”
The loyalty is personal as well as professional. “I love him that much, man. I think he’s that talented.”
Season 3: swinging from the first frame
Lioness returned for its third season on 2 August. Alongside Kelly, the series stars Zoe Saldaña as CIA officer Joe McNamara, Nicole Kidman as CIA Special Activities officer Kaitlyn Meade, Morgan Freeman as Secretary of State Edwin Mullins and Dave Annable as Dr. Neil McNamara.
The official season 3 synopsis places Joe and Kaitlyn on their most dangerous mission yet: “Hidden networks, foreign operatives, and personal betrayals collide. Joe walks the line between duty and home as unseen forces circle her world. Patterns appear where they shouldn’t, names vanish, and paths rearrange… Guided by Kaitlyn and Westfield, Joe confronts enemies operating in the shadows, leaving her to reckon with a war that now reaches into every part of her life.”
Kelly’s off-script version is blunter. Sheridan “comes out of the gate swinging,” he said; the new chapter is “bats—- crazy” and “so epic.” After reading the scripts he thought season 3 was “better than both” seasons 1 and 2. “It’s really good. When I read the scripts, I was just like, ‘Holy s—.’ It’s crazy. It’s really crazy.”
Women at the centre—and why that matters to him
Kelly, known to many viewers from House of Cards, also framed the show as a rare vehicle in a genre still dominated by male leads. “I’m so thrilled for him, for the show, for those women especially,” he said of Saldaña and Kidman. “It’s really cool to be a part of a show that has women playing central characters that you predominantly see men play. It’s an honor to be a part of that thing.”
Byron Westfield’s role in that structure is institutional muscle and dark humour—the deputy director who can threaten a Russian ambassador over dinner and still answer to the women running the Lioness unit in the field. Kelly’s interview does not break down individual season 3 plots; it sells the experience of being inside Sheridan’s machine: Texas, the pages, and a writer-producer whose output has become a gravitational field for actors who want dense, propulsive dialogue.
Why the quote travels
Television is full of actors thanking showrunners. Kelly’s version lands harder because it is specific about scarcity. He is not only saying Sheridan is good; he is saying the combination of volume, voice and star magnetism is effectively unmatched right now—and that he has already raised his hand for the next assignment, crossover or not. For Lioness viewers deep into season 3’s opening volley, it is also a vote of confidence from inside the building: the man playing the CIA’s deputy director of operations thinks the war on screen is only getting wilder, and that the person writing it is one of the smartest people in the room.
