FORT WORTH, Texas — Laysla De Oliveira didn’t know what to expect when she arrived in Fort Worth.

The 34-year-old Canadian has spent a good amount of time in Cowtown over the last few years filming “Lioness” Seasons 2 and 3. She plays Cruz, a marine and the titular “Lioness” in Season 1, in the Paramount+ spy series.

Oliveira found her Fort Worth experience to be eye-opening.

“Fort Worth exposed me to so many things I had never been exposed to, and now I look forward to being there and going whenever I can,” she said.

Oliveira recently spoke to the Star-Telegram for “Lioness” Season 3, Episode 7, which released on Sunday, Sept. 13.

The conversation ranged from how they make the show to what her experience in Fort Worth has been like. There are spoilers for “Lioness” through Episode 7, so it’s best to be caught up before diving in.

[This interview has been edited for clarity and length.]

Q: We’re three seasons into “Lioness.” What still excites you about this show and makes you ready to come to work?

A: What makes me ready to come to work? Probably that I know Taylor’s [Sheridan] going to make me look really cool [laughs], and that I’m going to get to spend time with the QRF (quick reaction force team), they’re like my family. And also work with people I’ve idolized my whole life, and know that it’ll be a good script. That’s what makes me come to work every day. I feel lucky.

Q: Before we get into Episode 7, I want to ask you about a scene towards the end of Episode 6. It’s when Cruz and the QRF are waiting on a helicopter for word about Joe. Cruz has this moment of desperation, where she’s asking for just one chance to bring her home. I thought it was a good scene to show that while these are highly trained individuals, they’re also human beings. What was it like to have a scene like that?

A: I was so happy that Taylor wrote that for Cruz. I think it was time this season for her to really show her heart. We got little glimpses of how she might be feeling, but this was the moment we really get to see the evolution of her relationship with Joe. We’ve come such a long way, and when I read that line, I actually got emotional. Got emotional for my girl. I called Taylor and he agreed. It’s a deep, deep line. It’s how Cruz feels about her whole arc of the whole thing, and I think in a lot of ways that’s how you know Laysla probably feels as well about perhaps the show. As hard as it is.

I was really excited for the audience to really hear from Cruz what she’s feeling, and that is that she does love Joe. She is starting to see that they’re family, that Joe gave her a family, gave her purpose. Although they may not always agree like family, they’ll always have each other’s back. They’ll always come save each other, or try to at least, in hard times.

Q: I feel like Joe is this motherly figure for the whole team. A lot of this season feels like mom is gone and the kids are mad.

A: And Cruz didn’t have a family. The thing that Cruz has always wanted is just love, I think. To feel loved, to have purpose. We’re really starting to set up a stage for that in Season 3, and hopefully, if we do get a Season 4, we get to explore that in a little more depth.

Q: Joe’s rescue in Episode 7 is very exciting. You have this firefight on the road that moves to a soccer field and then Cruz and the QRF come down in a helicopter to finish the job. It’s one of those scenes where I question how you guys did any of that. How did you?

A: Oh, I can tell you. Generally, when I’ve shot scenes with just me and Genesis [Rodriguez] on the helicopter, we have gone up before. But this time around, there are so many of us, and we’re also sitting at the edge of the helicopter, so that’s a safety issue. We obviously can’t, the actors can’t go up, stunts can. What they did is they created a gimbal. I don’t know if you know what that is. It’s on stage. They got the helicopter and they built this really long thing, so the helicopter could sit up top, and they moved it like a roller coaster. We had to strap ourselves onto the edge of the helicopter and shoot guns. Here’s the thing about me: I hate roller coasters, and it really felt like you were going to fall off.

We were very, very high up. I remember doing it a couple of times, and Jill [Wagner] beside me, was laughing at me the whole time because I really had a moment where I said, “I don’t know.” Cruz looks cool doing everything because this is second nature to her, but it’s not necessarily second nature to Laysla, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do this scene. I really had to take a breather at lunchtime and lock the eff in, so I could face some fears and show up for my girl Cruz.

Then I watched it, and was like, “Wow, I don’t look scared at all.” It just took a couple of tries, but it was actually really fun. It ended up being really fun, but I was definitely a little bit nervous at first. We do that for when we’re up in the air, and then we pick it up on the actual field, just hopping off the helicopter. Then they piece it all together.

Q: Right after that, the helicopter lands and Cruz and Bobby run to Joe. There’s the big emotional relief that you can feel in Zoe’s performance. Is that a scene you guys want to overtly rehearse, or is it better to just go for it and capture the raw emotion?

A: We don’t really rehearse any scenes on “Lioness.” We did Season 1, and I think that was mostly because Taylor was so far away. We were shooting in Baltimore and he wanted to make sure that everything was going according to plan, and also it was a new show. But, well, that’s not true. We rehearsed the action sequences, but when it comes to those kind of like raw scenes, scenes with birds, we really do find it on the day.

I think with emotional scenes too, you don’t want to overdo it. You kind of want everything to be a surprise and have those real feelings bubble up. That is just the talent and power of Zoe Saldaña [laughs] and her peers that came to save her. Also, I think we have a lot of history to pull from, which we didn’t have in season 1. We have a lot of spent time together. We have a lot of chemistry, so I think that really helps with our scenes. The more seasons we get.

Q: I want to ask you about Fort Worth. You’ve made the last two seasons of the show here. Generally, what’s your experience been living and working in Fort Worth?

A: I love Fort Worth. It was a big surprise for me because I’m Canadian and I’m actually a big city girl. Like I grew up in the city, so I wasn’t really sure how it would feel. I just love it. Everyone is so nice. The food is amazing. There’s this calmness to it too, that I just really enjoy experiencing, especially when I’m working on such an explosive show. I got really into country music while I’ve been there. Fort Worth exposed me to so many things I had never been exposed to, and now I look forward to being there and going whenever I can.

The only note that I would say is that the summers are too hot. That’s my only problem with Fort Worth. Truly, is the summers. Everything else is a 10 out of 10. But the thing that I was most blown away by truly were the people. They’re some of the kindest people that I’ve met.

Q: I’ve lived here for 30 years and I’m still not used to the heat.

A: We shot Season 2 in the summer, and I thought we were gonna die.

Q: You mentioned some spots around Fort Worth. Do you have any favorites that you return to?

A: Hell yes. My favorite restaurant is Chumley House. I actually discovered it pretty late. We discovered it probably at the end of season 3, I don’t know why. But of course we go to the Bowie [House] hotel a lot and the [Hotel] Drover. The Stockyards whenever we can. I didn’t really go out that much season 3 as I did season 2, but I love to eat, so that’s where you’ll usually find me.

Cherry Coffee is really great. What was the other? I went to an Italian restaurant there that I really liked. That had just opened. I’m trying to remember the name, but it’s escaping me. Great, great places to eat there. Shoutout B&B’s [Butchers]. I’m scared to say because if we go back, I don’t want to give away our spots. But those are the places we go to. B&B is, I think, a “Lioness” favorite because they serve a lot of protein there [laughs].

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(“Lioness” airs Sundays on Paramount+. )

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