True Lies TV reboot delayed at CBS

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

CBS is still fully behind their TV reboot of the 1994 action film True Lies but it's being delayed to give the behind-the-scenes team time to flesh out the story.

According to "The Hollywood Reporter", CBS has decided to push the project off of this pilot cycle in order to give producers — including James Cameron, who wrote and directed the 1994 movie on which it's based, more time to work on it. The network is hopeful that they will be able to film the pilot this summer. As of this writing, no one has been cast in the pilot and despite being moved off cycle, the network is still excited to have the property and still want to see the series become a reality.

The pilot was written by Matt Nix and will be directed by McG, best known for his highly kinetic Charlie's Angels films. In the pilot, shocked to discover that her bland and unremarkable computer consultant husband is a skilled international spy, an unfulfilled suburban housewife 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.

Apparently bringing True Lies to television has been a passion project for McG. The director began pursuing the idea in 2016 after he signed an overall deal with 20th TV. In 2017, a TV reboot from writer Marc Guggenheim sold to Fox with a put pilot commitment but the project didn't move beyond the script stage. McG soldiered on and continued to try to make the reboot happen which led to the director helming and executive producing 20th TV's series reboot of Turner & Hooch for Disney+ with Nix. The duo hit it off and teamed up on True Lies and that pitch eventually landed at CBS.

1994's True Lies was directed by James Cameron and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Bill Paxton, Tia Carrere, and Eliza Dushku. The film was a loose remake of the French comedy film La Totale and followed a U.S. government agent named Harry Tasker (Schwarzenegger), who balances his life as a spy and a loving husband and father. The film was well-received at the time of release, securing a 71% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and grossing $146.2 million domestically. Worldwide totals brought its gross to $378.8 million on a $100 million budget while Jamie Lee Curtis went on to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for her scene-stealing turn as Harry's wife, Helen Tasker.

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