‘True Lies’ Series At CBS Replaces Jamie Lee Curtis With ‘She-Hulk’ Actress Ginger Gonzaga

A True Lies sequel series was originally being pitched to Disney+ by McG (Terminator: Salvation) with an expectation that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis potentially reprising their roles from the James Cameron action film.

Sadly, the project was passed-over and headed to CBS as a pilot with Arnold Schwarzenegger being replaced with television/character actor Steve Howey (Shameless) as the new Harry Tasker.

Now, Variety has a casting update that comedic actress Ginger Gonzaga (She-Hulk) is taking over the Helen Tasker role, that was previously played by Jamie Lee Curtis, the wife of secret spy Harry Tasker (Howey).

Helen is described as Harry’s supportive wife, mother of two teenage kids and a linguistics professor who is getting annoyed by Harry’s constant business trips away from home. Increasingly angered, she feels as if she’s been robbed of the life she once envisioned for herself. Thrilled when Harry invites her along for a trip to Paris, Helen is in for a rude shock when she sees a very different side to her husband, learning that he is in fact a world-class spy.

Matt Nix (Burn Notice) is writing the pilot with Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Red Tails) directing. It sounds like CBS could turn the project into a generic mid-budget series that likely won’t be terribly exciting in any real way, but Hemingway directing is giving me a slight glimmer of hope.

McG and James Cameron will executive produce.

Interestingly enough, True Lies is based on a French film La Totale! that was released back in 1991.

TRUE LIES – Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry’s mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he’s a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.

SOURCE: VARIETY

‘True Lies’ Series At CBS Replaces Arnold Schwarzenegger With Steve Howey: Anthony Hemingway To Direct Pilot

James Cameron’s True Lies is considered to be one of the highlights of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action film career as it allowed him to play a government spy alongside a family man, although, the latter part was not really the focus of the film.

McG (Terminator: Salvation) had been trying to develop a sequel series at Disney+ with the hopes to have both Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising their roles, a good idea since Jamie’s profile had been recently amplified with the success of Knives Out and the Halloween soft-reboot.

However, things fell apart and Schwarzenegger went off to make a father-daughter spy series for Skydance/Netflix co-starring Monica Barbaro (Top Gun: Maverick) that certainly feels/sounds like a surrogate for the True Lies project that never came together.

Today, Variety reports that not only is a pilot moving forward at CBS for that True Lies series, but they’ve sadly replaced Arnold Schwarzenegger with television/character actor Steve Howey (Shameless) as the new Harry Tasker.

Who exactly is playing Helen Tasker has yet to be announced.

Matt Nix (Burn Notice) is writing the pilot with Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Red Tails) directing. It sounds like CBS could turn the project into a generic mid-budget series that likely won’t be terribly exciting in any real way, but Hemingway directing is giving me a slight glimmer of hope.

Interestingly enough, True Lies is based on a French film La Totale! that was released back in 1991.

TRUE LIES – Secretly a spy but thought by his family to be a dull salesman, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is tracking down nuclear missiles in the possession of Islamic jihadist Aziz (Art Malik). Harry’s mission is complicated when he realizes his neglected wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), is contemplating an affair with Simon (Bill Paxton), a used-car salesman who claims he’s a spy. When Aziz kidnaps Harry and Helen, the secret agent must save the world and patch up his marriage at the same time.

SOURCE: VARIETY