Summary
WhileTerminatorfans are just days away from the release of the franchise’s highly anticipated Netflix anime adaptation, the father of the franchise himself might have just given everyone something more to look forward to.
TheTerminatorfranchise was at the peak of the science fiction genre when it launched with the very first film in the series,The Terminator.Written and directed by James Cameron andstarring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the iconic role that he has now stepped back from, the first two films would be massive hits. While subsequent projects would be helmed by other filmmakers and not reach the same level of acclaim that the first two films hit, the franchise has remained popular, and fans are eagerly anticipating an anime adaptation coming to Netflix at the end of August titledTerminator Zero.
With less than three weeks left until the release ofTerminator Zero,it seems there’s more down the road that fans will have to eagerly anticipate, according to the franchise’s progenitor. In a recent interview withThe Hollywood Reporterthat touched on a plethora of subjects, including theAvatarfranchise andAlien: Romulus,Cameron would let slip that he was working on a new project within theTerminatorfranchise that had nothing to do with the newTerminator Zeroseries that he was asked about. While the director did give some great insight into his view on the series and other attempts by creators to make new stories in the world he was pivotal in creating, it’s clear that the much more interesting takeaway was his accidental admission about working on something new himself.
It looks interesting. My relationship to that is very much like The Sarah Connor Chronicles — other people spinning stories in a world I set in motion is interesting to me. What’s their takeaway? What intrigued them about it? Where are they going with it? It looks like they’re going back to the root cause of Judgment Day — the nuclear war — and whether that’s an ultimate timeline. I’d be curious to see what they’ve come up with.I’m working on my own Terminator stuff right now. It’s got nothing to do with that.Like with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, they occasionally touched on things I had been playing with completely independently. So there’s some curiosity there. It’s not a burning curiosity, but, obviously, it’d be nice to see it succeed.
When Cameron was subsequently probed on the previously unknown Terminator project that he admitted he was working on, the filmmaker played coy by saying, “It’s totally classified. I don’t want to have to send out a potentially dangerous robotic agent if you were to talk about it, even retroactively.” The response is pretty on brand for the director who launched theTerminatorfranchise to dizzying heights, and it’s unlikely that anyone else will have better luck extracting that information from Cameron. Later in the same interview, he reiterated his willful personality by dismissing a line of inquiry, saying, “Move on, that’s a non-story.” As such, fans are just going to have to wait until the filmmaker decides that the time is right. It truly is unknown what project the director is working on, though it probably won’t be any streaming projects in theTerminatorfranchise judging fromhis view on doing spinoffs when it comes to theAvatarpotentially getting Disney+ projects.
While it is still a very well-loved franchise, the reality is that theTerminatorfilms have seen a steep decline in critical acclaim with each new release, and there’s a sense of trepidation surrounding the viability of the franchise long-term. However, if there’sany way theTerminatorfranchise can move forward, it’s almost guaranteed to involve James Cameron, so this news is a massive win for fans of the franchise and could be the start of a return to form on the theatrical side of things.
TheTerminatorfranchise is available on Video on Demand platforms.
Released in 1991, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” continues the saga with Arnold Schwarzenegger in his role as the Terminator, this time sent back to protect John Connor (Edward Furlong) from a more advanced and deadly Terminator (Robert Patrick). The film follows their efforts to prevent Judgment Day while facing relentless pursuit and action. The movie features groundbreaking special effects while it explores themes of humanity, destiny, and sacrifice. A true sci-fi classic!
