NEW YORK, Aug. 30 (UPI) — James Jordan says he feels blessed to work with Taylor Sheridan on such a wide array of projects as Wind River, Yellowstone, Mayor of Kingstown, Landman and Lioness.

They also collaborated on Those Who Wish Me Dead and 1883.

“I love telling his stories. He’s the exact kind of filmmaker and storyteller I was looking for when I went to see Sicario one Friday, 11 years ago,” Jordan, 47, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.

“I was trained very early on that I’m a character guy. I’m a character actor. I’m a supporting actor who’s going to show up and support our leads and our protagonists and tell these stories the best way I can play these characters. I love it,” the actor said.

“Any time Taylor calls me up, says, ‘Hey, buddy, I’m writing a part,’ I know it’s going to be a surprise. I know it’s going to be a challenge. I’m going to have to do a lot of work. But, also, Taylor’s done a lot of heavy lifting for you in designing these characters just on the page.”

Season 3 of Lioness is now airing on Sunday nights.

The spy thriller stars Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman.

Jordan plays Two Cups, a member of the Quick Reaction Force military unit led by Joe (Saldana.)

“It’s interesting. The first season, the fight took us to the sea. The second season, the fight took us to the air and the third season, the fight’s come home. The bad guys have come literally to Joe’s front doorstep,” Jordan explained.

“So, it’s incredibly personal this season and the stakes couldn’t be higher because they took one of our own. Joe’s out there. We don’t know where she is. We got to get her back. We got to get her home. So, it’s been such a joy to shoot this season. We love that people are enjoying it and showing up. We’ve got four more hours, four more episodes to go and it’s going to be a roller coaster.”

This role has given Jordan a deeper appreciation for the men and women who risk their lives to protect their countrymen.

“There’s a phrase one of my favorite writers of all time, the late, great Christopher Hitchens, said. ‘These are the folks that go out there, that guard us while we sleep,'” Jordan recalled.

“I think it’s so true. While we are living our lives, while we’re just trying to find ways to put our kids through college, we have people out there, as Joe says this season, who are trying to sustain and protect our way of life because it’s threatened,” he added.

“There are bad guys out there and it’s remarkable that people are willing to devote their entire careers to doing this job, to protecting our way of life to allowing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, to be a real concrete thing.”

And Two Cups more than pulls his weight as a member of the QRF team.

“There’s a lethality that is probably unmatched and unrivaled. He never questions orders. He also brings a levity,” Jordan said.

“I’ve met a few of these folks that do this in real life and, I’ll tell you, they’re some of the funniest people I’ve ever met, because you can’t be this engaged, serious warrior the whole time. There’s so much stress involved in this job that you’ve got to let it go and you’ve got to have a laugh.”

As Lioness is winding down, Jordan expects to resume work on Landman with Billy Bob Thornton in a few weeks.

“I love going in and investigating these worlds. In fact, we’re about to start Landman Season 3 here in less than a month and I just got the phone call the other day about [doing] a refresher, Landman camp — oil drilling,” noted the actor who earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Acting from UCLA.

“I was the one to suggest it. I said, ‘We’ve got to get these refreshers,’ because I love learning these worlds and these skill sets that these characters know so well and so inherently.”

Jordan said he is looking forward to spending time again with Thornton and their cast-mates Ali Larter, Colm Feore and Michelle Randolph, who feel like family at this point.

“We have such a good time going to work on that show and telling that story,” he added.

“Billy Bob is such a fantastic actor, human being, and artist. He really sets the tone and reinforces that idea of, ‘This is play,'” he said. “That’s where the magic is.”