If Sylvester Stallone could do well enough to make his television debut at 76 and earn a Critics Choice nomination for Tulsa King, Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't be left behind. Although he never mentioned that emulating his old friend and rival was one of the reasons for joining a proposal for the small screen, the truth is that this week the Fubar series has arrived on Netflix, an action comedy that has him as its absolute protagonist, not bad considering that the former governor of California will turn 76 in July.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor, bodybuilder, writer, and politician admitted that the new proposal is inspired by the hit The Big Lies, the movie he starred in in 1994 for James Cameron when he was one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Although the legendary director created his own television adaptation of that story, recently released with Shameless' Steve Howey as the lead, with such poor results that it was canceled after its first season, in Fubar's case the connection was limited to imitating the style.
“David Ellison came to see me with the proposal that we make a television series,” Arnold revealed in that interview and explained: “I answered yes, but that it had to be something in which I could use all my talents. That it had to be fun, have a lot of action and also have a touch of sweetness. I also asked him not to hide my age. Some time later he came back with the idea of doing something in the style of Risky Lies ”. In English, the title FUBAR is an acronym for “Fucked Up Beyond All Repair”, which could be translated as “fucked up beyond all repair”.
The series revolves around Luke Brunner (Schwarzenegger), a CIA agent who has finally reached the time to retire, something he has been looking forward to for a long time but his bosses are not enthusiastic about. It's just that Brunner is simply brilliant in every mission, he has never lost his cool even in the worst circumstances and with so many years of experience, he has made friends with all the villains, those who have never suspected his true identity. Luke is so good at fooling everyone that he has done the same with his divorced wife and his adult daughter, Emma, played by the rising Monica Bárbaro, who became world famous thanks to her role in Top Gun: Maverick.
During a dangerous mission in Colombia, which is officially his last and in which he must negotiate with Boro (Gabriel Luna), the son of a dangerous drug trafficker who has died under mysterious circumstances, father and daughter meet in the jungle. She finds out that he is the best CIA agent that everyone talks about and no one has seen, and he, that his daughter has followed in his footsteps and is an efficient field agent in the same organization. Although mutual recriminations are not lacking, when they return to the United States after miraculously saving themselves, father and daughter are informed by their bosses that they will have to continue working together on another mission.
Always comedic and spare no expense in the ambitious action scenes, Fubar is written by Nick Santora, who started on The Sopranos and has worked on Prison Break, Scorpion and The Fugitive. The cast of the series is completed with Jay Baruchel, the Argentinean raised in Italy Fabiana Udenio and Tom Arnold, who was able to accompany Schwarzenegger in Risky Lies, when he was the husband of Roseanne Barr, then the most successful comedian on American television.
