James Cameron has plans to be readily involved with the next Terminator movie. There are no dates as to when this hypothetical film could be released, just that Cameron is set to return to the franchise. After seeing the reviews from the previous three films (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator: Salvation, and Terminator: Genisys), in which he was not involved, it appears he wants to bring some depth back to the story.
Cameron recently found out that he could gain the rights back to the franchise after he had sold them off earlier in his career. When he discovered this, he began to ask himself whether or not the next film could be made into a piece of art that’d still hold up to the standards of today. Would it be relevant? The Terminator was a hit to critics and fans alike back in 1984, but the latest installment, Terminator: Genisys, was a flop two years ago. Taking all of this into consideration, Cameron then began to ponder over how Arnold Schwarzenegger could fit into a new story.
As multiple sources have reported, Cameron would want to do a prequel on how the original T-800 Terminator prototype was developed. Because Schwarzenegger is known as the original Terminator, Cameron realized that the body the T-800 was made out of could’ve been based on a real person’s DNA. “You got to ask yourself, ‘Why did they make these characters look and sound like Arnold?’ There has to be a reason. So yeah, it has flashed through my mind that there has to have been a prototype,” Cameron stated in an interview with TheArnoldFans. An origin story of how the T-800 came to be would be a great way to jumpstart this franchise. Especially since many people thought it dead after Genisys.
This information doesn’t necessarily mean that it’ll come to fruition on the big screen, only that Cameron is considering a variety of options when going into this film. We may not know all of these thoughts, but we at least know one. There’s also plenty of time for growth. The movie wouldn’t even release until 2020 at the earliest.
It’s important to note that Schwarzenegger has already confirmed his involvement with the next film of the franchise, yet Cameron hasn’t made that official yet. Cameron is set to produce the project, while Tim Miller, director of Deadpool, is attached as a director of the project.
Although there’s a lot of talk going around about the details of the next Terminator film, nothing is truly set in stone. Until Paramount decides to give the movie a release date, we can’t be certain that it’s actually happening. Until then, all we have is speculation. After all, ideas change as a story develops more and more. Cameron may scratch that whole origin-story-idea and go with a something better. Until we know for certain, Schwarzenegger’s role in the next Terminator movie could very well be a cameo. I don’t think so, though; seeing how a T-800 became the killing machine we first saw in 1984 will be quite relatable in a world on the verge of an AI breakthrough.
