No one takes the role of Netflix’s Chief Action Officer more seriously than the Governator. And just like with everything he does — from bike riding in Venice to advocating for the Special Olympics — Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his “big new job” as CAO with a bang. Well, a tank, to be specific. In a video announcing his new position to the world (along with an exciting slate of action films and TV shows for 2023), Schwarzenegger drives a larger-than-life tank right over a Mercedes Benz outside of the Netflix office. You may now be wondering: “Did that really just happen?”

The short answer: Yes, it really did. “Was it really me driving? Of course it was. I wasn’t going to let someone else have that fun,” he says. “And yes — it was as easy as it looked.” So easy, in fact, that the Terminator performed the stunt in just two takes, bulldozing over two different cars with the support of the stunt team he’s worked with for 30 years. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger is Netflix’s Chief Action Officer

According to the team that created the video, Arnold was keen to find a fun way to utilize his personal tank — an M47 Patton that he brought over to the US from Austria — in a Netflix video to announce his “new position.” Schwarzenegger had previous experience with car stunts (footage of which can be found all over YouTube), and the concept that he would drive the tank himself quickly came together.

“I drove this exact tank when I was an 18-year-old in the Austrian army, and many years later I was fortunate enough to be able to bring it to the US. So when Netflix wanted to name me as CAO, I jumped at the opportunity to have a little fun with the tank,” Schwarzenegger says. In fact, the Austrian army had buried the tank as part of a decommission effort after Schwarzenegger had served. But when he reached out and said he wanted it, they dug it up, restored it and now he uses it to raise money for charity.

Schwarzenegger used to stash weights in the tank that he’d lift in between drills when he was 18 years old. And since the army provided him mostly meat to eat, he was devouring nothing but solid protein while working out, which helped him gain muscle faster. 

Stunts aside, nothing hits quite like Arnold Schwarzenegger heading up the Netflix action slate. “I’ve always been passionate about delivering the best action possible, whether it was in my films like Terminator, in my new action comedy FUBAR or now as the chief action officer,” he tells Tudum. “The toughest part is that I love action so much, I want to put it into everything I watch... romantic comedies, stand-up, dramas — all candidates for more explosions in my opinion.”

Get pumped to watch Arnold in FUBAR, Gal Gadot in Heart of Stone, and Chris Hemsworth in Extraction 2. You can also channel your inner Terminator with CAO merch at the Netflix shop here.