FUBAR[1] is an American action comedy television series created by Nick Santora for Netflix. It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in his first leading role in a scripted live-action television series[2] and is produced by Skydance Television and Blackjack Films. The series premiered on May 25, 2023. In June 2023, the series was renewed for a second season.
| FUBAR | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Nick Santora |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Tony Morales |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 8 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producer | Agatha Barnes |
| Cinematography |
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| Editors |
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| Running time | 45–59 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Netflix |
| Release | May 25, 2023 – present |
Premise
Luke Brunner and his daughter Emma have lied to each other for years, with neither of them knowing that the other is a CIA operative. Once they both learn the truth, they realize that they do not actually know anything about each other. They are required by their superiors to work together on dangerous operations, leading to challenges when Luke treats Emma as a child and when he becomes overly concerned for her safety and relationship conflicts.
Cast
Main
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Luke Brunner
- Monica Barbaro as Emma Brunner
- Milan Carter as Barry, the CIA technical operations officer of Luke's team
- Gabriel Luna as Boro Polonia, a powerful arms dealer
- Fortune Feimster as Roo, the CIA operative of Luke's team
- Travis Van Winkle as Aldon, the CIA operative of Luke's team
- Fabiana Udenio as Tally Brunner, Luke's ex-wife and Emma's mother
- Jay Baruchel as Carter, Emma's boyfriend who is a kindergarten teacher
- Barbara Eve Harris as Dot, a regional CIA director who tasked Luke and Emma to work together as a team
- Aparna Brielle as Tina, the NSA data analyst brought in to support Luke's team
- Andy Buckley as Donnie, Tally's boyfriend
- Carrie-Anne Moss as Greta Nelso (season 2)[3]
Recurring
- Devon Bostick as Oscar, Luke and Tally's son and Emma's brother
- David Chinchilla as Cain Khan, Boro's right-hand man
- Stephanie Sy as Sandy, Oscar's wife
- Scott Thompson as Dr. Pfeffer, the operational psychologist that Dot brought in to conduct Luke and Emma's mandatory joint therapy sessions
In addition, Rachel Lynch costars as Romi, Oscar and Sandy's daughter.
Notable guest stars
- Adam Pally as The Great Dane
- Tom Arnold as Norm Carlson
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" | Phil Abraham | Nick Santora | May 25, 2023 | |
Luke Brunner, a CIA officer, successfully completes his last mission, and can now retire. Luke returns home to Armonk, New York, hoping to rekindle a full relationship with his divorced wife, Tally, and daughter Emma, who are unaware of Luke's true occupation. During his retirement party, Luke's friend and fellow CIA operative, Barry, reveals that a secret CIA operative codenamed Panda is in danger in Guyana, monitoring arms dealer Boro Polonia. Luke secretly killed Boro's father years ago, and has become "Uncle Finn" to him. Luke goes to Guyana to help Panda with the mission – and is shocked to find that Emma is Panda. Luke and Emma eliminate Troy, an associate of Boro, to protect Panda's identity. Boro's henchmen find the bodies, leading to suspicions. Luke and Emma hide in the jungle and encounter a British family seeking escape, but they are ultimately cornered by Boro's men and held at gunpoint. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Stole Train" | Holly Dale | Scott Sullivan | May 25, 2023 | |
Emma and Luke manage to shoot their way out of trouble with a little help. Their boss forces them to work together to track down Boro. They discover Boro will try to hijack nuclear waste from a high-speed maglev train in Kazakhstan and are successful in stopping the theft but overspeed the train risking a crash at the terminal. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Honeyplot" | Holly Dale | Adam Higgs | May 25, 2023 | |
Emma and Luke manage to slow the train by working together. Boro becomes obsessed in finding Emma and Luke. He is also trying to make a weapon out of the small amount of radioactive waste that he was able to obtain. The team all work together to obtain a secure scientific paper that explains exactly how to do that | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Armed & Dane-gerous" | Steven A. Adelson | Penny Cox | May 25, 2023 | |
Carter proposes to Emma and she accepts. Emma and Luke continue to go to counseling, as ordered, even engaging in other person role-playing. The team has to extract the "Great Dane" from a Turkish prison as he is essential to their plan. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Here Today, Gone To-Marrow" | Steven A. Adelson | Cait Duffy | May 25, 2023 | |
The team captures Boro while exchanging the miniature nuclear reactor (MNR). As Luke's granddaughter and Emma's niece, Romi, needs a bone marrow transplant, the team forces Romi's biological father to be the donor. Boro masterminds his own escape and recovery of the MNR. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Royally Flushed" | Phil Abraham | Scott Sullivan & Lillian Wang | May 25, 2023 | |
Barry and Tina get into a high stakes poker game to get data from Cain's phone. The rest of the team get trapped in a vault in the excluded poker players' old home. Luke and Tally renew their relationship. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Urine Luck" | Stephen Surjik | Adam Higgs & Michael J. Gutierrez | May 25, 2023 | |
Barry and Tina start to date. Carter calls off the engagement after learning Emma had kissed Aldon, and as she complains to Luke about him having revealed that and ruining her relationship, he in turn calls Tally saying they are better off separated, leading Tally to ask boyfriend Donnie to marry her. While the team intercepts Boro in an abandoned nuclear plant to prevent him from developing dirty bombs with the nuclear material, Aldon is shot, forcing Roo to take care of him as Emma and Luke go after Boro. After deactivating the material and preventing an accidental explosion, the Brunners leave Boro behind in the plant. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "That's It And That's All" | Stephen Surjik | Nick Santora | May 25, 2023 | |
Learning Tina is about to be recalled by the NSA, Barry asks many favors around the agency to keep her around. On the day of Tally and Donnie's wedding, Emma tells Luke to be honest with her mother. He reveals his life as a CIA agent, giving her his National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and asks if she wants to call off the wedding and run away with him. The ceremony is then invaded by Boro, who after being rescued by his men used all the data he accrued on the Brunners to discover their location, and proceeds to render Tally hostage while asking Luke and Emma to shoot each other dead. Once Tally stabs Boro with Luke's medal, she breaks from his grip, and Luke and Emma kill him. As the Brunners are told their identities have been leaked by a mole, they gather the group and run away alongside Tally, Donnie, and Carter, knowing many former enemies will be out to get them. | ||||||
Production
Skydance Television first announced that it was developing an untitled spy television series for Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in and make his scripted live-action television debut in August 2020.[4] Shortly afterward, Monica Barbaro was cast as the lead opposite Schwarzenegger in the series where a father and daughter are both CIA officers, unbeknownst to the other.[5] Netflix won the rights for the project that November and had ordered eight episodes of the series by May 2021.[6] The cast was expanded in April 2022, announcing several regular and recurring roles.[7] Phil Abraham was announced as director and executive producer of the pilot episode in May,[8] and a July casting announcement added Adam Pally.[9] While in production, the series used the working titles Utap and FUBAR.[10][1]
Filming began in April 2022 in Antwerp, Belgium around Grote Markt.[11][12] Additional filming took place in Toronto,[13] where Schwarzenegger was seen re-teaming with former True Lies co-star Tom Arnold.[14] In September 2022, filming wrapped up with the series now titled FUBAR.[15]
On June 17, 2023, Netflix renewed the series for a second season.[16] On May 13, 2024, Carrie-Anne Moss was cast to star opposite of Schwarzenegger for the second season.[3]
Release
FUBAR was released to stream on Netflix on May 25, 2023.[17]
Reception
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 51% approval rating with an average rating of 5.4/10, based on 57 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "With jokes that fall flat and a story that borrows liberally from star Arnold Schwarzenegger's earlier career triumphs, FUBAR is just OK."[18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 48 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[19] The series was the overall most streamed television series for the week of its release, May 22–28, 2023, according to the Nielsen streaming rankings.[20]
