FORT WORTH, Texas — Thad Luckinbill says “Lioness” could be on its 20th season, and he would still being having a great time.

The 51-year-old Oklahoma native has been a part of the show since it began in 2023. He plays Kyle, a spy who works with Joe’s (Zoe Saldaña) team on threats from abroad.

From boardroom scenes with Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman to flying in military helicopters to go blow stuff up, Luckinbill said “Lioness” is the most fun he’s had making anything in his over 20-year career.

“I mean, there’s really never a dull day,” he said.

As “Lioness” continues airing its third season on Paramount+, Luckinbill spoke to the Star-Telegram about the show.

He also shared his experience on living in Fort Worth and how he sees the filmmaking scene changing in Texas over the next few years. There are a few light spoilers for “Lioness” up to Episode 3, which aired on Aug. 16.

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

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

A: I mean, that’s a great question. It’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had working as an actor, and really even production-wise. The cast is great, the writing’s incredible, the budget’s big, so we get a lot of fun practical uses with military helicopters and guns and explosions and stuff. I mean, there’s really never a dull day.

You might have a big boardroom scene with Morgan [Freeman] and Nicole [Kidman] and Zoe [Saldaña] and Michael Kelly, etc. Which is obviously a lot of dialogue. It’s sitting around a table, which, by the way, it’s fun. That’s still fun. But then the very next day, you’re flying around on the helicopter with a gun, about to go blow some stuff up. It’s always fun to work on this show. We could probably be in the 20th season, and I would tell you, I’m still having the time of my life.

Q: One new wrinkle this season is the dual timelines, from before and after Joe is kidnapped. Do you remember what your initial thoughts were when you heard about this choice?

A: It’s funny, the actors and producers, we’re always having to, as we were shooting it, always having to like talk about where we were, right? Which timeline we’re in? Are we six months before? Six months later, etc. Just like the audience is trying to figure it out. We were trying to figure it out as we were shooting it. I love it because it adds so many layers, right? And it’s fun for the audience because they got to sit there and watch how these people are acting and reacting based on the timeline. I think it gives the series, or the season at least, some pace. It was fun to film and fun to watch as well.

Q: One of the highlights thus far is your character Kyle’s interrogation scenes with Oleksandra (played by Elizaveta Neretin) in Episode 3. I’m not an actor, but if I was, that seems to me like one of those days you circle on the calendar and say, “This is going to be a big fun scene.” For you, did the way you prepare for the scene change at all from what you normally do? And, is this scene something you guys rehearsed or is it better to capture the raw reaction by just going for it?

A: My approach has always been a little bit, I enjoy approaching things a little more raw and letting it come. She and I didn’t really know each other. We had worked a little bit together with that scene prior in Episode 2, where I extract and put her in the SUV and I pull her out of the bar, which I love that scene too. It wasn’t a lot of dialogue, but I just loved the way that played.

But the interrogation scene, to be honest with you, I don’t even think we really rehearsed it. I mean, obviously there’s a lot of dialogue. There’s a lot of memorization individually, but when we got in there, it was more of just a feel. I was feeling her out, and I think she was feeling me out, and I think you saw a lot of that in the way it played. She’s a great actress and so much fun to work with. I mean, it was easy to fall into a rhythm with her. I had the upper hand obviously in that scene, and it was fun to try to pull information out of people.

Q: It feels like you can tell exactly who each person is by how they react. Kyle is calm and cool, while Oleksandra is excited and angry. As an actor, how do you stay grounded when your scene partner is going big like that?

A: Yeah, I mean, I think the difference is Kyle’s been doing this a long time. Taylor’s [Sheridan] made that clear to me that this guy is country first, second and third. I mean, this is all he cares about. He’s one of the guys you want. It’s like the Jack Nicholson line [in “A Few Good Men”], he’s the one of the guys you want on the wall, right? He’s the one. He’s the line of defense, but he is happy to be that guy. I think for her, she’s younger and probably a little newer to the game, so this is probably a new dynamic for her character to be in this situation.

For me, it’s like my approach was to keep it calm and cool and let her lose it, get her break so we get the information. Because one way or the other, Kyle had to either believe her or Kyle’s got to believe that she’s lying, right? There was no in between, and so he had to push her to the point of breaking to know whether she was telling the truth or not. Ultimately, he believes her. I think they got the objective.

Q: I do want to ask you about Fort Worth, since you guys filmed the last two seasons here. You’re an Oklahoma boy, so I’m curious what your experience has been making the show in Cowtown and across North Texas?

A: Great town, great town. I grew up obviously in Oklahoma, went to school at the University of Oklahoma, and a lot of the friends and family I have moved to Dallas. Very few of them moved to Fort Worth, so I had a little bit of exposure to Fort Worth growing up, but mostly Dallas. Then these last two years living and working in Fort Worth, I was like, “This is a great town. It is a really great town.” Like to the point where I was sort of, I mean, I don’t want to diss on Dallas, but it felt more like to me what I was used to in Oklahoma. It felt a bit more like home to be honest with you.

Q: Do you have any Fort Worth favorite restaurants, museums, anything like that?

A: LaMonica Garrett loves to go to Stockyards, so we’ve been there quite a bit. The Drover, and obviously Cattleman’s with the affiliation there, which is great food. I’m trying to think, it’s a Mexican restaurant, the really famous one. Why am I blanking on the name?

Q: Joe T. Garcia’s?

A: Yeah, Joe T.’s is great. I mean, you can’t pick a better ambiance than that. There’s a million places that we’ve gone and loved and keep going back to.

Q: I’d love to get your perspective on the growing Texas film scene, due to the increase in film incentives passed by Texas lawmakers last year. You’re an actor, but also a producer with your company Black Label Media. What do you think the future of filmmaking looks like in Texas?

A: It’s interesting. I mean, obviously, I produced a lot of movies and New Mexico for a while was where everybody was going. Then back in the early 2000s, Canada, etc. There’s always like that one hot spot. Atlanta, obviously, has been that in more recent years. It feels to me like Texas has a lot of momentum. A lot of it is attributed to Taylor and what he’s doing there and the amount of production he’s got. But it feels like a place that if they keep those incentives, because that’s what it’s all about. You keep the incentives, then you build the crews, then people start moving there, then you have cast that you can pull locally. You have really talented crews, etc.

You do that enough years in a row, and then you’ve all of a sudden got a really big shooting hub. It feels like that’s what Texas is starting to achieve. By the way, selfishly by proxy, because it’s so close in relation, Oklahoma is kind of picking up as well because it’s all so close to each other, which excites me a bit too, right? Just being a hometown boy. But I love it because a lot of my family’s in that area, whether it’s in Dallas or Oklahoma. We’re shooting a movie in Oklahoma in three weeks. I love being back in that part of the world and seeing it come up in the entertainment business, too.

Q: That movie shooting in Oklahoma is the new Miles Teller one called “Copperhead,” right? I read that the story is actually set in West Texas. Did you try to make that in Texas first? Or, was it always going to be Oklahoma?

A: Initially we were going to do Fort Worth, but because, well there’s a lot of reasons. I mean, Taylor’s got people pretty busy, so Oklahoma seemed like a well, I don’t want to bore you with the details, but there’s a lot of financial aspects that go into making that decision. But yeah, initially was either going to be Texas or Oklahoma.

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“Lioness” airs Sundays on Paramount+.

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