Zoe Saldaña's Joe McNamara has survived her most brutal Lioness ordeal yet.

The 48-year-old actress returned to the centre of the action in Sunday's (13.09.26) seventh episode of the third season of Taylor Sheridan's Paramount+ espionage thriller, and it saw her character escaping her kidnappers after being tortured and held hostage before immediately resisting calls to step away from the field.

Joe's fate had been left hanging after she was abducted and tortured, prompting her CIA colleagues to launch a desperate search before her captors could move her out of the country.

After Joe is finally reunited with Cruz Manuelos, played by Laysla De Oliveira, she tells her: "I guess I owe you now."

Cruz responds: "You don't owe me nothing."

Joe's escape begins when police stop the vehicle in which she is being transported.

As officers approach, a shootout erupts and the still-handcuffed Joe manages to grab a gun, shoot several of her captors and flee.

Her team eventually reaches her and she is carried to safety barefoot and injured before being taken aboard a helicopter.

Joe is told she requires urgent surgery at Walter Reed in an attempt to save her badly injured toe, but immediately objects.

She said: "No. I'm going home. I'm gonna see my family."

Joe argues her toe is already gone and "can't get any worse", only for Two Cups, played by James Jordan, to warn her an infection could ultimately threaten more of her leg.

He tells her: "Your family's waited this long. They'll wait another day."

Joe also discovers the lengths to which her colleagues went to find her, with Two Cups explaining Kyle McManus, played by Thad Luckinbill, 51, "went to war" for her and was instrumental in tracking her down.

As the immediate danger passes, Two Cups admits he had doubted whether the team would find Joe alive.

He tells her: "I gotta be honest with you, Joe. I didn't think we were gonna find you."

Joe responds: "I didn't think I was gonna be found."

The pair then share a drink as Joe chooses the "s***** whiskey" over the "s***** vodka" and their conversation turns towards the husband and daughters waiting for her at home.

Joe's husband Neal, played by Dave Annable, and daughters Kate and Charlie are subsequently told she has survived by Kaitlyn Meade, played by Nicole Kidman.

Neal asks Kaitlyn to take his wife out of the field, and Kaitlyn indicates a desk job could potentially be in Joe's future.

Joe, however, remains unwilling to walk away from operational work.

The storyline follows Zoe's comments before the third-season premiere about the escalating dangers facing her character.

Speaking to People, Zoe said: "For Joe, it feels like it's a Taco Tuesday. I'm telling you, these are the things that happen to this poor woman because of the world that she has chosen for herself and the vocation that she has taken upon herself to fulfill in her life."

Discussing Joe's determination to fulfil her responsibilities and avoid disappointing Kaitlyn, Zoe added: "It always comes at the cost of putting herself in danger. And now danger has knocked on our door, unfortunately."

Nicole also spoke about Kaitlyn's ability to remain composed in extreme circumstances.

She said: "When you're dealing with somebody like Caitlyn, she is so wired, and literally her brain has been altered by the way in which she's been trained. So it's not about cracking. She's strategic. She's able to compartmentalize. She's built for this world and this job."

Nicole added: "When she cracks, she's quiet, strategic, and she comes up with a plan."