Is True Lies 2 With Arnold Schwarzenegger Happening, Or Has Avatar Ruined Everything?
"True Lies" is a uniquely '90s movie. The action-comedy features "Roseanne" star Tom Arnold, "Wayne's World" breakout Tia Carrere, and "Terminator" action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, plus Bill Paxton and Jamie Lee Curtis. While Curtis is, of course, a recent Oscar winner, Paxton passed away in 2017, and the remaining lead actors haven't exactly been headlining many major blockbusters of late. It's also commonly cited as the first movie to cost over $100 million to make, a figure that feels extremely quaint when compared to today's bloated budgets.
Despite the inherent '90s-ness of "True Lies," rumors constantly persist about a sequel to the movie. Writer-director James Cameron is obviously a little busy these days with the "Avatar" sequels, but is there a chance he could ever return to the world of secret agent Harry Tasker? If not, might another filmmaker rise to the challenge and make "True Lies 2" happen? Here's everything we know about the potential sequel or lack thereof:
Why hasn't True Lies 2 happened yet?
After the initial success of "True Lies," Cameron, Arnold, and Schwarzenegger were reportedly planning a sequel as early as 1997. The movie was definitely in the works at one point! Sadly, a series of unfortunate and unlikely events led to it being scrapped before production ever started, and it seems likely "True Lies 2" will never happen.
In the late '90s, Cameron decided to cede script-writing duties for "True Lies 2" to "White Collar" creator Jeff Eastin. Cameron was busy on "Titanic" and other projects, but Variety reported that he planned to produce the sequel. The project took some time in the development stages, and a 2001 interview with Arnold indicates that a Hollywood strike may have also been a factor in the timeline. Then 9/11 happened.
Though speculation would continue for years afterwards, "True Lies 2" basically died on the vine after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The original was a comedy about terrorism, and Cameron just wasn't comfortable making a movie like that anymore post-9/11. The proliferation of "True Lies 2" rumors seem to originate from the fact that some cast members held out hope that Cameron would eventually want to revisit the story. Schwarzenegger said the movie was just on hold back in 2002, Eastin at one point reportedly cited Schwarzenegger's political career as a factor, and Arnold referenced the unmade sequel optimistically as recently as 2011.
Cameron seemed pretty clear on the matter when asked about it in 2009. "There are no plans for a 'True Lies 2,'" Cameron told Ain't It Cool (via Den of Geek). "Since September 11, I've never felt comfortable generating laughs with nuke-toting Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. 'True Lies,' even though it has a cautionary thread underneath the pratfalls, is in a strange way a product of a more innocent time."
Everything cast and crew members have said about True Lies 2
Since 2001, Cameron and the "True Lies" cast have spoken often about "True Lies 2," mostly to note that it wouldn't be appropriate to make anymore. While Schwarzenegger and Arnold seemed to hold out hope that the time would eventually be right again, co-star Curtis echoed Cameron's point that any movie with jokes about terrorism would be in bad taste. "'True Lies 2' will never get made. Never happen," Curtis told Coming Soon in 2003. She added: "Terrorists aren't funny anymore. They never were, but it was distant enough from our psyche that we could make it funny. It'll never be funny again."
In 2005, Schwarzenegger still sounded hopeful about the film, telling IGN (via MovieWeb), "The script is written, but as you know, after 9/11 happened, Cameron was worried because there's an airplane scene [...] It was a very important moment in the movie, and he felt like he can't do that and therefore has to rewrite it [...] These things take a long time."
Arnold, meanwhile, repeatedly told the press the sequel was still a go. In 2005 he said he met with Cameron, Paxton, Curtis, and Eliza Dushku about the movie, and that they were simply waiting for Schwarzenegger's term as California governor to lapse. "We're doing it," he told IGN at the time, Definitely doing it [...] I've been waiting for ten years now – I'm sure I can hang on a few more months." Hopefully Arnold isn't still waiting nearly two decades later. The actor most recently mentioned the movie in 2011, noting that he and Schwarzenegger were both excited about the project, but Cameron has consistently said that the movie is well and truly dead (see above slide), even noting in 2009 that he thought Arnold might be joking.
What could happen in True Lies 2
Only a few details from Eastin's never-made "True Lies 2" script have ever emerged, and they're mainly about parts of the story that had to be re-examined after 9/11. In his 2005 IGN interview, Schwarzenegger described a "terrific airplane scene" that featured a fight taking place inside a plane that was going down. In April, Arnold told the New York Post that the script also had a scene in which Harry and Arnold's character, Gib, "[come] up on a submarine that came on shore at the base of the Twin Towers."
While it sounds like there well and truly won't ever be a "True Lies 2" if Cameron has anything to say about it, the story did finally get resurrected in the form of a TV series of the same name this year. The CBS series starred "Shameless" actor Steve Howey in the Harry Tasker role, with "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" star Ginger Gonzaga playing his wife Helen. Cameron executive produced and Arnold even guest-starred, but the show reportedly failed to bring in enough viewers to secure a second-season renewal.
The series seems to have followed some aspects of the 1994 film's plot, but fast-tracked the plot so Helen joining Omega Sector became a central part of the premise. Instead of Harry hiding his life from Helen, the show is about the pair hiding their spy career from their two kids.
Who could the stars of True Lies 2 be?
As noted, "True Lies 2" isn't happening according to James Cameron, and for good reason. "Terrorism is no longer something to take as lightly as we did in the first one. I just can't see it happening given the current world climate," Cameron was quoted as saying as far back as 2002, and it's a sentiment he's stuck with in the decades since.
If the project were to someday happen without him, cast members from the original whose characters survived their storylines include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, and Eliza Dushku. Original castmates Charlton Heston and Bill Paxton have both since passed away.
As for the short-lived "True Lies" TV show, the cast includes Steve Howey, Ginger Gonzaga, Mike O'Gorman, Erica Hernandez, Annabella Didion as Dana Tasker, Lucas Jaye, and Omar Miller. Tom Arnold also appeared in the series, and other guest stars included Keith David, Matthew Lillard, and Beverly D'Angelo. If you want to check out the "True Lies" TV show, it's currently available on DirecTV and for digital purchase on Amazon and Apple TV.