‘True Lies’ Reboot Ordered to Series at CBS

‘True Lies’ reboot ordered to series at CBS.

‘True Lies’ Reboot Ordered to Series at CBS

Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga in CBS’ ‘True Lies’Alan Markfield/CBS

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It took a few years but True Lies is officially coming to broadcast television.

CBS, which has spent the past year-plus adapting James Cameron’s 1994 feature for television, has handed out a series order to the update that counts the filmmaker as an exec producer.

Like the Jamie Lee Curtis and Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, the CBS take revolves around an unfulfilled suburban housewife — shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband is a skilled international spy — who is propelled into a life of danger and adventure when she’s recruited to work alongside him to save the world as they try to revitalize their passionless marriage.

Matt Nix (Burn Notice, The Gifted, the Disney+ Turner & Hooch reboot) penned the pilot script and serves as showrunner. Anthony Hemingway, who directed the pilot, exec produces alongside Cameron and his Lightstorm Entertainment partner Rae Sanchini. McG and his Wonderland Sound and Vision collaborators Mary Viola and Corey Marsh exec produce alongside Nix and his Flying Glass of Milk Productions’ Josh Levy. Sean Hoagland and Whitney Davis are co-exec producers.

True Lies hails from Disney’s 20th Television, marking a key off-network sale for the Mouse House and CBS’ lone new series to hail from an outside studio. Sources note True Lies is in consideration for the network’s midseason schedule.

CBS originally ordered the True Lies pilot in February 2021 with an eye on the series for this past broadcast cycle. The project was pushed off-cycle a month later in order to give producers — including Cameron, who wrote and directed the movie — more time to work on it. The pilot was filmed last fall after Howey was cast in September after the actor wrapped his impressive 11-season run on Showtime’s Shameless.

This is the latest attempt to bring True Lies to television. Fox previously developed an update in 2017 with Arrow’s Marc Guggenheim attached to pen the script. It never moved forward. McG in 2019 floated that a True Lies TV series was in the works for Disney+.

True Lies is CBS’ fourth drama series order for the 2022-23 broadcast season and joins procedurals East New York, Fire Country and So Help Me Todd on the network’s schedule. The Paramount Global-backed broadcast network surprisingly passed on all of its comedy pilots this week. The move came after CBS canceled a pair of Chuck Lorre comedies (B Positive, United States of Al) while also giving rookie half-hour How We Roll the ax. The network will only have four comedies on its schedule next season: Bob Hearts Abishola, Young Sheldon, The Neighborhood and breakout Ghosts.

Keep track of all of the broadcast pilots, castings and series orders with THR’s handy scorecard. And follow along as all the bubble shows await word on their futures with our renewal guide.