Photo by Nobuhiro Hosoki
Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is headlining his first-ever TV series, and it seems like exactly the kind of fare that the action star and former California governor was best known for in his early days. According to Deadline, eight episodes of the untitled show have been ordered, and Netflix will be its home thanks to its high bid for the series back in November. The project comes from Skydance TV and is created by Nick Santora, best known for Scorpion and the recent Quibi version of The Fugitive.
Schwarzenegger will star opposite Monica Barbaro, who is set to appear in the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick and has a number of television credits to her name, including Chicago Justice, Splitting Up Together, and UnREAL. They will play a father and daughter who have unknowingly both worked as CIA agents for years and who must confront the people they really are after discovering the truth and being set up as partners.
A similar concept worked well on ABC’s Alias, which enjoyed a healthy five-season run on ABC two decades ago.
Schwarzenegger is best known for playing the Terminator in the film series that began in 1984, and after a brief departure from acting to foray into politics following 2003’s Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, he returned to the successful franchise for additional installments in 2015 and 2019, both of which were produced by Skydance Studios. A previous role of his that might serve as the best experience for this part is his 1994 action-comedy True Lies, where he acted opposite Jamie Lee Curtis as a spy whose professional life intersects a bit too closely with his personal life.
Schwarzenegger expressed his excitement about this new venture: “Fans from all over the world have been asking me for a wild ride like this for years, and now they’re finally going to get it because of our great partners at Skydance and Netflix. I am beyond pumped to start work on the show with Nick and Monica and the whole team.
” This project is part of an overall deal with Skydance for Santora, who will be the showrunner and executive producer, and Schwarzenegger, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost will also executive produce.
This marks the third Skydance-Netflix television collaboration following Grace and Frankie and Altered Carbon.