Although we may always associate Lena Headey with her award-winning work as the cruel and calculated Cersei Lannister during all eight seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones, to simply count her out of other roles would be a gross misjudgment. In the years since her reign of terror came to an end in the live-action series adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s beloved novels, the actress has stayed incredibly busy, putting out one project after the next. Soon, she’ll appear alongside a talented cast in the latest feature-length project to hail from actor-turned-director Chad Faust in his thriller Ballistic. Today, ahead of the film’s release into select cinemas and on demand on April 17, Collider is thrilled to unveil a brand-new look at the high-octane drama that throws Headey back into the world of action in a gritty and emotional performance that she grabs by the horns.

Ballistic calls into question how the choices we make day in and day out affect us in the future. Nance Redfield (Headey) is an employee at a munitions factory where she pores over every single bullet that comes down the line. In her time away from earning a paycheck, she’s the dutiful mother to Jesse (Jordan Kronis), a young man who has signed up to fight for his country in the military. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes shortly after Jesse’s deployment when he’s killed in combat, with Nance soon discovering that the bullet that claimed the life of her son was made in the very factory that she’d built her living off. Now, in a search for answers and revenge, Nance strikes out to peel back lie after lie to illuminate the truth.

The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.

You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.

You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.

You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.

You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.

In our exclusive sneak peek, the mourning mother is hot on the trail of some shady business dealings that are going down behind the backs of hardworking Americans. Sitting opposite the recruitment official who signed her son into the army, she presses him for information about what he knew when recruiting her child and the countless others to go off to war. Flipping the script, the recruiter pushes back on Nance’s perception and challenges her to look at things from a different perspective.

If Ballistic just begins to scratch the itch for Headey fans, fear not, as the actress has a multitude of other titles hitting cinemas this year. Later this week, she’ll also welcome the crime drama Normal, which also features a leading performance from Bob Odenkirk, with her long-awaited rom-com sequel Red, White & Royal Wedding expected to hit Prime Video later this year.

Check out our exclusive new look at *Ballistic *above and see it in select cinemas and on demand on April 17.