Summary
Netflixis no stranger to taking Western live action media and turning it into anime. The result has greatly varied depending on the title, but the streaming service is not ready to give up yet. The latest franchise that they are giving the anime treatment is one of the most famous sci-fi movie series of all time -Terminator. That’s right, the series starring none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger himself is being turned into an anime for the first time.
While the initial announcement of this upcoming anime, calledTerminator Zero,came a while ago now, the first trailer for it has finally dropped along with a new key visual. This has the internet very hyped up because it gives the first real look at howTerminator Zerois going to look. The trailer came directly from Netflix over the weekend, along with a poster for the upcoming anime series.
A New Chapter for an Old Series
The Story Will Be Original, but Canon
Terminator Zerois neither a remake nor an alternate universe. The anime will be set in theTerminatoruniverse, and what happens in it will be considered canon for that franchise. However, it will not star the usual characters that fans of the movie-verse know and love. Instead, it will be the story of all new characters, andset across two timelines at once. The first of these timelines will be 2022, when humans have nearly gone extinct and machines run rampant. The second will be 1997, the year that the AI Skynet began to fight back against the humans.
Netflix summarized the story as follows:
Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he’s hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future, which forever alters the fate of his three children.
It sounds like the two timelines will be happening simultaneously, with thestory jumping back and forth between themjust as the characters will be. What is happening in both worlds will be important to the plot.Terminator Zerosounds like it will add more depth and detail to the world of theTerminatormovies, but also sounds like it will be accessible to sci-fi fans that may not know as much about the original source material as well.
What We Know About Terminator Zero
Everything You Need to Know
Terminator Zerois being produced by an anime studio famous for its science fiction anime,Production I.G(Ghost in the Shell,Psycho-Pass,FLCL). They are no stranger to the genre, and the most likely to do justice to the source material. It is being written by Mattson Tomlin, the mind behind Netflix’s action/sci-fi movieProject Powerand upcoming movieThe Batman II. From Tomlin, Netflix reports,
“Anyone who knows my writing knows I believe in taking big swings and going for the heart,” Tomlin said in 2021. “I’m honored that Netflix and Skydance have given me the opportunity to approach Terminator in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations, and has real guts.”
TheTerminatoranime will have 8 episodes, and will begin airing the same day thatTerminator 2: Judgment Dayreleased - August 29th. It will star the vocal talents of Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood), Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka), André Holland (Moonlight), Sonoya Mizuno (House of the Dragon), and Ann Dowd (The Handmaiden’s Tale). It’s a heavy-hitting cast list for sure, and Netflix is clearly banking on it doing well.
Since the story ofTerminator Zerois an original one, it is unlikely that viewers will need to watch the original movies to understand it. However, it is likely that the creators will throw in some Easter eggs for hardcore fans to pick up on, and the details of the world and its lore will be better appreciated by people that are already familiar. That likely won’t stop anime fans from giving it a try when it airs at the end of next month, considering the first teaser already has nearly 1 million views onYouTubein less than two days.
Netflix
Netflix is one of the most popular and widely viewed streaming services in the world. Beginning with its mail order DVD service, Netflix has since grown into an entertainment juggernaut, with original shows and movies including Squid Game, Stranger Things, The Irishman, and The Killer.
