Hit SHOWTIME^® Comedy Series Will Be First American Scripted Series

To Shoot In Cuba Since Diplomatic Restoration

Photo: Michael Desmond/SHOWTIME

LOS ANGELES, CA – January 6, 2016 – HOUSE OF LIES is Havana-bound! Marty (series star and executive producer Don Cheadle) and the Pod are en route to Cuba for one episode of the fifth season of the hit SHOWTIME comedy, premiering in 2016 on-air, on demand and over the internet. Filming in and around Havana, the episode will mark the first time an American scripted series will be shot in the country since the U.S. and Cuba restored diplomatic relations last summer.

“Marty and the Pod have traveled the world to land clients,” says Don Cheadle, HOUSE OF LIES series star and executive producer. “But this historic trip to Cuba is definitely Kaan & Associates’ biggest and wildest adventure yet. It’s sure to be one for the record books, for both our characters and for our cast and crew. We’re grateful to SHOWTIME, our production team and everyone who worked so diligently to make this trip happen.”

This season, Marty is a man with a singular focus – ascending from millionaire mogul to global dominator. No longer content with fleecing big-money clients, he’s upping the stakes in a highly calculated winner-take-all power play that will land him and the Pod – Jeannie (Kristen Bell), Clyde (Ben Schwartz) and Doug (Josh Lawson) – in Cuba. To the victor go all the spoils.

Guest stars for the fifth season will include Emmy^® winner Wanda Sykes (Alpha House) as a love interest for Jeremiah (Glynn Turman); Emmy nominee Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele) as the CEO of a hair care line; and Emmy nominee Ken Marino (Children’s Hospital) as a love interest for Jeannie. Emmy nominee Malcolm-Jamal Warner (Major Crimes), John Cho (Star Trek), Donald Faison (Scrubs), and Nicky Whelan (Matador, Franklin & Bash) will also guest star.

HOUSE OF LIES is the hit half-hour comedy series from the hit tell-all book House of Lies: How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Tell You the Time by Martin Kihn. HOUSE OF LIES stars Don Cheadle in his four-time Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe^®-winning performance as Marty Kaan. Kristen Bell plays his razor-sharp partner and mother of his daughter; Emmy winner Ben Schwartz and Josh Lawson as members of his team (a.k.a. The Pod); Emmy winner Glynn Turman as his father; and Donis Leonard Jr. as his gender-fluid teenage son. Produced by Showtime, HOUSE OF LIES is created and executive produced by Matthew Carnahan. Jessika Borsiczky, Don Cheadle and David Walpert return as executive producers for season five. 

The Cuba shoot is being done in compliance with the U.S. Department of Treasury pursuant to an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) license following all appropriate U.S. laws. 

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME^®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX^®, and also offers SHOWTIME ON DEMAND^®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND and FLIX ON DEMAND^®, and the network's authentication service SHOWTIME ANYTIME^®. Showtime Digital Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of SNI, operates the stand-alone streaming service SHOWTIME^®. SHOWTIME is currently available to subscribers via cable, DBS and telco providers, and as a stand-alone streaming service through Apple^®, Roku^®, Amazon and Google. Consumers can also subscribe to SHOWTIME via Hulu, Sony PlayStation^® Vue and Amazon Prime Video. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks™, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution, which offers Smithsonian Channel^™ and Smithsonian Earth^™. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV. For more information, go to www.SHO.com.

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Morgan Fouch                                              Jackie Ioachim                                

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morgan.fouch@showtime.net                   jackie.ioachim@showtime.net