It’s more than a little ironic that CBS officially ordered the episodic reboot of True Lies to series not long after original star Arnold Schwarzenegger’s in-development Netflix spy show rounded out its principal cast, and the early reactions indicate that fans of James Cameron’s 1990s action classic are a lot more excited for the latter.
The small screen update of the massively entertaining blockbuster romp has been in the works for years, and it’s been eight months since Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga were cast as Harry and Helen Tasker, so the top brass have clearly been mulling over their decision for a while, even though True Lies V2.0 boasts plenty of name recognition and heavy hitters behind the scenes with Cameron and McG involved as executive producers.
However, that doesn’t mean everyone is excited at the prospect of seeing the high concept premise rehashed on television, especially when the general consensus is that it won’t come anywhere close to recapturing the magic of the feature film.
True Lies featured Cameron at his most playful, saw Schwarzenegger deliver one of the best performances of his career, and netted Jamie Lee Curtis a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, so the expectations are already sky high.
It could be a while before we find out if a fresh coat of televised paint will be enough to justify the show’s existence, but a lot of doubters already need to be won over now the green light has been awarded.