“Lioness” viewers know Laysla De Oliveira as the strong-willed CIA special forces operator Cruz Manuelos, though five years earlier, she had a small part in Marvel’s “The Gifted.”
The Fox series took place in an alternate timeline where the X-Men went missing, thus forcing underground mutant communities to fight for survival as the government hunts them down. In “The Gifted” Season 2, which aired from 2018 to 2019, De Oliveira played a made-for-TV character named Glow. A kindhearted mutant who can create and manipulate orbs of light, Glow joined the isolationist, subterranean group known as the Morlocks after being rescued from a mental hospital.
Glow appeared in just three episodes of “The Gifted,” but fans enjoyed witnessing her unique powers and budding relationship with Eclipse (Sean Teale). Moreover, the show was De Oliveira’s first recurring role on TV. Despite attracting a loyal following thanks to its Marvel Comics roots, “The Gifted” never took off with mainstream TV audiences, and Fox canceled the series after Season 2.
Years after The Gifted, Laysla De Oliveira made her mark in a new genre
“The Gifted” boasted a blend of science fiction and fantasy through its superhuman characters and dystopian setting, which was right in Laysla De Oliveira’s wheelhouse at the time. After delving into the world of mutants in “The Gifted” and taking part in other sci-fi and supernatural-themed projects like “Locke & Key” and “Code 8,” De Oliveira had to adapt to the more grounded environment of undercover agents and international threats in Paramount+’s “Lioness.”
On how she experienced the transition from sci-fi to a political action thriller, De Oliveira told The Extra Mile that playing Cruz in “Lioness” forced her to learn a new style of television, both physically and mentally. “It’s obviously a lot more emotionally challenging. It also is incredibly artistically fulfilling in a different way,” she said ahead of the show’s premiere in 2023. “What I like about sci-fi is you really see everything come together at the end, you know? Whether you’re grabbing a tennis ball and they insert a car there or something. This is just so raw and gritty and real that you really do have to go into a heavier place and it becomes a game of endurance.”
“Lioness” has not yet received the green light for Season 4, but the first three chapters of Taylor Sheridan’s show have been a pretty intense ride for De Oliveira’s Cruz — with even more danger potentially to come.
