Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga star in the TV adaptation of the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger-Jamie Lee Curtis film.
A new True Lies is coming to CBS, and only ET has the exclusive first look at the upcoming TV adaptation.
Steve Howey and Ginger Gonzaga play married couple Harry and Helen Tasker in the upcoming comedy-action series, inspired by the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger-Jamie Lee Curtis film by director James Cameron.
In the CBS update, Howey plays a spy for the Omega Sector whose double life is accidentally discovered by his wife (Gonzaga). With his secret now out, Omega recruits Helen and she teams up with Harry and his operatives, embarking on covert missions -- all while keeping their adventures a secret from their children.
Showrunner Matt Nix offered ET an exclusive preview of how the series is different from the popular '90s film.
"The show starts in a very similar place. Harry and Helen are an ordinary-seeming suburban couple. He’s a computer salesman who is secretly a spy, and she is a little bored with her life and looking for some adventure. They wind up on a spy adventure where a lot of secrets come out, challenging and ultimately strengthening their relationship. The story isn’t exactly the same, of course," he wrote over email. "The adventure’s in a different place, the bad guys are very different and a big part of the show is Helen’s discovery that she has some skills that are surprisingly useful in the world of espionage. The show winds up focusing more on their partnership after Helen is brought into Omega Sector as a spy, and how that affects their relationship. So I’d say it’s different, but I’m confident that fans of the film will recognize that the series was made by fellow fans."
In the official poster, which ET exclusively debuts, Howey and Gonzaga's Harry and Helen, dressed to the nines, are tied up with their backs against each other as they find themselves in quite a precarious situation.
He credited Howey and Gonzaga's onscreen chemistry for breathing new life into True Lies, acknowledging that their spark is "different" from Schwarzenegger and Curtis' in the movie.
"At the same time, I think they’re very similar at a deep level," Nix explained. "They’re both sexy, fun couples who are grappling with the realities of marriage in a high-octane, high-stakes world. Jamie Lee and Arnold were hilarious working through a marital spat in the middle of a terrorist attack. Steve and Ginger do the same thing in their own way."
See the exclusive True Lies poster below.
"We had a lot of fun making True Lies and I think it shows," Nix said of what viewers can expect when they tune in. "In a time when the news is pretty heavy and there are a lot of challenges in the world, we aim to be a bright spot, a fun hour in the week. It’s an over-the top action comedy, to be sure, but at the same time we’re dealing with real issues that couples and families face. How do you balance work and family? How do you raise your kids with the right values? How do you keep the spark alive? We’ve worked hard to find a balance between big action, fun comedy, and real emotional connection. It’s a show about people like you… who just happen to be international super-spies."
From Nix and Cameron, who serves as an executive producer, the series also stars Erica Hernandez, Omar Miller, Mike O'Gorman, Annabella Didion and Lucas Jaye.
In October 2022, Schwarzenegger reunited with Curtis to celebrate her receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, holding a True Lies reunion nearly three decades later.
True Lies premieres Wednesday, March 1 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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