Arnold Schwarzenegger made the news twice this week with initiatives on and off screen….
Industry site Deadline noted that Skydance Television is now teaming with Scorpion creator (and producer/showrunner of the studio’s upcoming Jack Reacher series for Amazon) Nick Santora to develop an original hour-long series action drama that would see Arnold in his first ever scripted-series debut. Though specifics are thin at the moment, the project is described as a ‘global spy adventure ‘ that would centre around a father (to be played Schwarzenegger) and daughter team. The casting of the daughter role is still underway (could we hope for Eliza Dushku?) but there are apparently already feelers out to various streaming platforms as the intended place to debut the show.
Schwarzenegger would also co-executive-produce the project. Arnold has done a few television projects before, but never a scripted series (He took over The Apprentice contest for a season).
The ex-governor of California also took the opportunity to step up to talk about the importance of voting in the upcoming US election. Entering the debate about changes in the law and the closure of polling stations in some key Southern areas, Schwarzenegger wrote several posts on twitter and seemed to be indicating he might use some of his accumulated fortune to offer some assistance…
“I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I’m a fanatic about voting. Most people call closing polls voter suppression. Some say it is ‘budgetary.’ What if I made it easy & solved the budgetary issue? How much would it cost to reopen polling places? This is a serious question. Is closing polling stations about making it harder for minorities to vote, or is it because of budgets? If you say it’s because of your budget, let’s talk.”
