James Cameron’s 1994 action comedy film True Lies has received a pilot order for a rebooted TV series at CBS. According to Deadline, Joseph McGinty Nichol (director, Terminator Salvation), professionally known as McG, has been working on trying to reboot the hit film into a television series for several years. Now, it seems his efforts have paid off.
The original True Lies film follows Helen Tasker (Jaime Lee Curtis, Halloween) as she is drawn into a world of danger and espionage when her husband, Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Terminator), is revealed to not be a boring salesman but rather an international spy. Once his secret is revealed, Harry and Helen must then set out to simultaneously save both the world and their marriage. The CBS reboot is set to follow the film’s plot line.
Nix, who has written the True Lies reboot pilot, will work alongside McG and Cameron to produce the new series. 20th Television is set to produce the series, via Deadline.
McG previously began working on a True Lies reboot back in 2016 during an overall deal he had with 20th TV. 20th Century Pictures produced the movie, so the production pairing was a natural fit. Then, in 2017, a reboot with Marc Guggenheim received a put pilot from Fox, according to Deadline. Nothing further became of the reboot at Fox, and a few years later in 2019, McG commented that he hoped the reboot may be able to happen at Disney+.
Via Deadline, McG partnered with Nix, creator of Burn Notice, after the two worked together on the Disney+ reboot of Turner & Hooch. Nix will executive produce the series through his production company, Flying Glass of Milk Productions. McG and Mary Viola (producer, Brooklyn’s Finest) are producing through Wonderland Sound and Vision, McG’s production company. Finally, Cameron and Rae Sanchini (producer, Solaris) are attached to the project through Lightstorm Entertainment.
The reboot follows a trend at CBS to produce shows based on feature film franchises. Clarice, a drama based on the early life of Silence of the Lambs detective Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver), is set to premiere February 11. Additionally, The Equalizer, based on the film of the same name, stars Queen Latifah (Girls Trip) in the titular role.