Arnold Schwarzenegger revolutionizes Netflix with ‘FUBAR’, his first series as an actor and the best thing you’ll see on TV this weekend

He is known for ‘Total Recall’, ‘The Twins Strike Twice’, ‘Junior’, ‘Kindergarten Cop’, ‘Risk Lies’, ‘The Last Big Hero’ and, of course, for one of the best sagas of the cinema, ‘Terminator’. The indestructible cyborg is and always will be the hallmark of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The one who started as a model and bodybuilder has developed his career as an actor in the cinema. Now, At the age of 75, he makes his first foray into the small screen as the protagonist of the hand of Netflix in ‘FUBAR’.

In it, he shows off all his charisma and humor and action skills to truly become “a father in distress”, and perhaps with more reason than in the 1996 film. Here the Austrian is Luke Brunner, a veteran CIA agent who accepts one last mission before his desired retirement. What will not be his surprise, that already immersed in said task, he discovers that his daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) also works undercover for the CIA.

FOTOGRAMAS has had the opportunity to speak with the actor about this first great adventure on television. As the Hollywood star well explains, the idea was pitched to him by producer David Ellisongood friend of the actor and creator of tapes such as the fifth and sixth installments of ‘Terminator’, ‘Terminator Genesis’ and ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ respectively, or ‘Top Gun: Maverick’-“I found it brilliant“, he explains in the interview that you have at the beginning of this article, in which he is accompanied by the actress who gives life to his daughter, Monica Barbaro. “His proposal was to take the premise of ‘Risky Lies’ and turn it into a TV series. That was the first thing: the idea was good. And later, I found that the scripts were very well written, they made me laugh, they inspired me… I wanted to do it.”

Like the rest of the industry, Schwarzenegger has adapted to changing times. ” (…) when I started, when I started in the action genre and my career in the cinema, the series of streaming like this they did not exist. Of course, series were made, but not like the ones that are made now. This of the streaming It’s a completely new phenomenon, something massive that a lot of people see.… And besides, they watch it how they want: one episode after another or with the rhythm that best suits you. It’s a completely new phenomenon, so when I saw the opportunity, I jumped at it.”

The protagonist has had nothing but praise with the team behind this entertaining production, which is aimed at the public. “These people know how to promote their products,” he says, referring to the streaming giant. “I think the writer, Nick Santora, is brilliant because he really understands what made ‘Risk Lies’ work, that combination, that fine balance between comedy and action.. (…) It’s very, very funny, you have huge laughs in it. And also action scenes and sequences loaded with effects. We shot it like a movie, but it’s a series“.

Nevertheless It is not the first time that the protagonist of ‘Conan the Barbarian’ appears on television. “In my beginnings I worked a lot on TV”, declares Schwarzenegger. He appeared in the series ‘The Jane Mansfield Story’, and also did a number with Lucile Ball in ‘Happy Anniversary and Goodbye’: “I did a gag seven minutes. I did many shows, but no series”. And it’s true, because, in addition to the forays he mentions, few other television works should be named from his career. Like ‘Superhero Kindergarten’, but here he only lends his voice in the original dubbing.

As well detailed in this ESQUIRE article‘FUBAR’ is an acronym for “Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition (or Repair)”, “Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition (or Repair)”. It is a term used to avoid profanity. And it is that the protagonist urges his family throughout the plot to speak well. In fact, it is the last word spoken at the end of the series. Don’t worry, it’s not spoilers.

To see what happens, the eight episodes of the ‘FUBAR’ series are now available on Netflix.