“I had no choice but to keep hope alive”: Milan Carter on ‘FUBAR’ season two, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and dreaming big
Netflix’s action comedy series FUBAR was notable for marking the first time Arnold Schwarzenegger played the lead role in a TV series, and given his status as one of modern Hollywood’s most iconic stars, it’s no surprise the streaming service issued a rapid second season renewal.
As tends to be the case, though, the sophomore run has been a long time coming. In fact, when FUBAR returns to screens on June 12th, 2025, over two years will have passed since it debuted. For Milan Carter, who plays erstwhile ‘guy in the chair’ and close confidant of Schwarzenegger’s Luke Brunner, Barry Putt, he can’t wait for audiences to see what’s in store.
“I’m like a kid that can’t wait to go back to school after a long summer,” he confessed. “The feelings are all the same, all over again. It’s just like the first time. Because I remember when season one came out, I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m working with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the world’s going to see it now.'”
However, now that they’ve spent more time working together, Carter’s admiration of his legendary co-star has evolved into something else. “Season two is like, ‘I’m really, really friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger, and we created something pretty amazing this season, and it really tops season one.”
With the Terminator star in the lead, the chances were always high that viewers would flock to FUBAR, and it would be renewed. By Netflix’s standards, a second season being confirmed only 23 days after the first premiered is fast, but those few weeks were nonetheless a trepidatious period for Carter.
“I was nervous,” he admitted, waiting for the official word. “I told everybody, ‘Hey, make sure you watch it. If you like it, give it that two thumbs up, because we need that.’ What I was really surprised at was how many countries it was number one in for, you know, a number of weeks. And I guess that gave me a little bit of hope to know that we were number one in so many countries outside of the USA.”
Understandably, scrolling through Netflix and seeing his face at the top of the homepage promoting his series as the most-watched title worldwide was a pinch-me moment: “Oh my goodness,” Carter recalled. “Like, why am I on my Netflix? Oh, I’m an actor. I forgot I’m supposed to be here.”
In the broadest sense, the ‘guy in the chair’ is one of the action genre’s most common tropes. When Carter was initially cast in FUBAR, he didn’t have to look too far for inspiration in trying to put his own stamp on an archetype that audiences are eminently familiar with.
“All my life, I’ve always been a tech guy,” he said. “I’ve always been a nerd, and I am somehow deemed cool nowadays, so I guess I wanted to bring a little bit of edge, a little bit of coolness to bear, but at the same time, it’s like there’s a reason he’s in the chair. So I wanted to merge the two of someone who is actually a little bit tough, but knows that he has some physical limitations.”
With the first season under his belt, it was worth asking if that gave Carter more scope to bring even more of his ideas and personality to the role. “No, it did not,” came the surprisingly frank reply, with the actor explaining that almost the opposite was true.
“The further I swayed, the more it’s like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, bring it back in, Milan, bring it back in.’ And I understand that I am telling an overall story, and it’s not just about my choices and my opinions. And yeah, I had to bring the nerd back in a little bit and make it a little bit more trope-y, but I had a great time doing it.”
FUBAR‘s first season saw Schwarzenegger’s Brunner and his daughter, Monica Barbaro’s Emma, discover they’d both been secretly working as government operatives before they partner up to thwart an arms dealer. In the second, Carrie-Anne Moss’ German spy, Greta Nelso, provides the main threat that plunges the ragtag group of CIA misfits into another high-stakes adventure.
In the grand scheme of things, FUBAR is a big, broad, blockbuster-sized action comedy packed with explosions, fights, shootouts, quips, and one-liners. That level of suspension of disbelief means that audiences need to connect with the characters, and Carter explained how every member of the ensemble felt more comfortable the second time around.
“Season two, we knew exactly what we were doing. Season one, we were all deer in headlights,” he acknowledged. “We had no idea what genre this was, what tone it was, how big we could play things. We were all a little bit lost, and we found our way together. And thanks to [executive producers] Adam Higgs, Nick Santora, and Phil Abraham, they helped guide us and let us know that this is a show mostly about family and figuring it out, while having to save the world at the same time.”
It was also beneficial to have Schwarzenegger around, who’s pretty much seen and done everything there is to see and do in Hollywood and beyond. “Man, this is like stumbling into a gold mine, not just for financial wealth, but for life wealth,” Carter shared. “Like, Arnold is a human encyclopedia. He’s a library of information. And whether it’s your passions, whether it’s your mental well-being, whether it’s your physical fitness, Arnold is the guy to talk to.”
Not only does Carter now have him saved as one of his favourite contacts in his phone, safe in the knowledge he’ll pick up whenever he calls, Schwarzenegger’s friendship and mentorship has him “always pouring into me and letting me know that there’s more than just acting, that this is really a vessel to do all the other things that you’re called to do.”
Everyone has done an impression of the former California governor at least once, and despite working with him every day on set, Carter is no different. “I’ve never been great at accents, especially not Arnold’s,” he clarified. “I’m the worst at the cast, but ‘I’ll be back’ is what I always say when I’m leaving the set, when I’m walking away, when I’m going to the bathroom. Just for no reason, that’s the line that I’m always pulling out.”
That begs the question of which member of the FUBAR cast spends the most time spouting Schwarzenegger’s endless library of memorable quotes. Unsurprisingly, it’s the man himself. “Arnold quotes Arnold all the time,” Carter disclosed. “Usually when you least expect it. Like, he’s in the middle of a serious scene, and he’ll just quote something from himself, and it’s pretty excellent.”
It’s been a fascinating career trajectory for Carter, who moved to Los Angeles with a few hundred dollars in his pocket and dreams of succeeding in Hollywood. He made an early appearance alongside Will Smith on TRL, his small screen debut came in an episode of Marvel’s Runaways, his first movie credit was in Eddie Murphy’s Dolemite Is My Name, he worked alongside Idris Elba on the video game NBA 2K20, and he’s now in his second season co-starring with Schwarzenegger.
Needless to say, he never imagined these would be the circles he’d end up travelling in. “Never in my wildest dreams,” he agreed. “I just wanted to get out of the hood, that’s all I ever wanted. So for these names to be next to mine and just to be a sliver in those stories is truly a blessing, and I’m super grateful. I think little Milan would be very proud of who I became today.”
Armed with only $400 and a dream when he first came to LA, like many other aspiring actors and entertainers, Carter faced his fair share of rejection. After enduring a difficult upbringing, he elaborated on how those challenging circumstances shaped the mindset that got him to where he is.
“I understand it,” he said of waiting for an opportunity to come around. “I had a brother who spent over 13 years in prison, and my father was a drug addict at one point in time, so I know how dark life can get. For me, I had no choice but to keep hope alive.”
“I didn’t know when it was going to come, how it was going to come, but i knew that if I showed up every day and I was the best version of myself, and I was always willing to help and be of service to someone, that something good could happen in life,” he continued. “I think just by me showing up daily, I think people were able to see the good in me, and seeing my work ethic, and I think that’s what brought me through and got me to where I am today.”
It might be his day job, but Carter has dreams of expanding well beyond being a thespian. “Acting is just the launching pad,” he teased. He’d love to host a game show, and one of the recurring themes that’s driven him to this point in his career is something he’s planning to return to in the future.
“Brotherhood is very special to me. As I told you, my brother [Mike] spent over 13 years in prison, and now he has a published book. He’s been featured in Bon Appétit Magazine. Head of the Table, won a James Beard Award. And I just love to tell stories about brotherhood, because without my brothers, without friends that became brothers, I wouldn’t be here where I am today, and Arnold’s part of my brotherhood now as well. So I definitely have a lot of stories and movies I want to write and shoot.”
A little closer to home, or Netflix anyway, Carter is also a self-proclaimed anime obsessive, and he’s been casting envious eyes at one of the streamer’s highest-profile adaptations and trying to pull some strings to get himself involved. “I’m still pulling on them,” he hinted. “One Piece. I have a couple of characters I would love to be.”
“If I could be Trafalgar Law, oh my goodness,” he spitballed. “Or Aokiji, I think that would be a dream come true.” If Carter had to choose, he’d pick the former for reasons that became patently clear: “Ultimately, my dream role would be Trafalgar Law in One Piece in live-action because I think he’s the coolest character that ever existed. He’s that dude. That’s my guy.”
Michael B Jordan and Donald Glover are two other well-known anime fans who’ve done alright for themselves in Hollywood, diversifying beyond acting into writing, producing, and music. That said, when describing his ultimate career goal, Carter looked back at somebody he encountered during his early days.
“I would be Will Smith without the music,” he declared. “And I would replace the music with directing Spike Lee-level joints. I say Will Smith because of the impact that he had on my life. I had gotten kicked out at gunpoint during my junior to senior year in high school, and I was no longer able to live with my mother, and I went from one of the best academic high schools in South Jersey.”
“It’s one of the worst academic high schools and dangerous schools in Philadelphia, and that’s when I had the opportunity to co-host TRL and meet Will Smith. He took me to South Africa to meet Nelson Mandela. So I would love to be able to be in a position to give back the way that he did to the students at Overbrook, and change our lives and change our perspectives forever.”
With a dash of Smith and a pinch of Lee, Carter’s dream would be to “continue to create movies that we can go back and laugh at and enjoy, from a Hitch to Do the Right Thing,” because “those are movies I watch on repeat and they have been monumental staples in my life.”
Wherever his career takes him, there’s one thing Carter can never be without wherever he goes: his trusty game bag. The two he brings with him everywhere are Connect Four and chess, which sounds odd but makes sense when he explains why a pair of opposingly difficult favourites are his go-tos.
“Everybody thinks they’re the greatest Connect Four player, and no one’s hesitant,” he suggested. “So it’s a great way to make friends. If I go to a party, walk down the street, go to a park, I bring out Connect Four. Next thing you know, you’re sitting down playing Connect Four with someone you would have never met. You learn their life story. And stories make the world go round.”
As for chess? “Most people cannot play chess.” Schwarzenegger said he could, but Carter proved him wrong. “I whooped Arnold so bad,” he exclaimed. “So he says to all of his friends, ‘Go play Milan’. So I’m just knocking off Arnold’s friends one by one.”
Combining the two most recent topics of conversation, then, if the actor became a Will Smith-level Hollywood mogul and could bring his trusty game bag onto any movie of his choosing that he could make without any restrictions, Carter knows exactly what his dream role would be.
“I want to be a treasure hunter from the hood, like a fish out of water story,” he stated, driven by his love of Indiana Jones, adventure films, and brotherhood. “I just think I’m a nerd. I’m a history buff. Two brothers from the hood go on a journey and become treasure hunters for the first time. I think that would be my dream project. That would be the thing that I would love to do; be a treasure hunter.”
