James Cameron Promises New ‘Terminator’ Film Will Have No Callbacks Or Arnold Shwarzenegger: “I Want To Do New Stuff That People Aren’t Imagining”
In offering a breath of fresh air amidst Hollywood’s usual garbage treatment of beloved franchises, James Cameron has made it clear that his planned Terminator sequel will not, in any way, shape, or form, feature either cheap callbacks to previous events or an appearance from the actor who first brought the T-800 to life, Arnold Shwarzenegger.
Having last danced with his apocalyptic IP as a producer on 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate, Cameron confirmed that he was actively working on a new franchise entry during a September interview with CNN‘s Christiane Amanpour, casually telling his host, “I’m at a point right now where I have a hard time writing science fiction. I’m tasked with writing a new Terminator story. I’ve been unable to get started on that very far because I don’t know what to say that won’t be overtaken by real events.
“We are living in a science fiction age right now,” he added.
And though said story is still firmly in the early stages of being fleshed out, it is at least far enough along that Cameron is now able to give some brief hints as to its overall direction.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter‘s James Hibberd ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash‘s upcoming release, the veteran director was asked if he could provide any update regarding his Terminator progress, to which he confirmed, “Once the dust clears on Avatar in a couple of months, I’m going to really plunge into that.”
“There are a lot of narrative problems to solve,” he added. “The biggest is how do I stay enough ahead of what’s really happening to make it science fiction?”
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Met with a follow-up inquiry into whether or not he had yet cracked the film’s overall premise, Cameron cracked a “sly smile” and simply said, “I’m working on it.”
However, one thing he could reveal was that the film would be the first in the franchise’s entire cinematic history to feature zero involvement or on-screen appearances from either Schwarzenegger or his likeness (as was the case in Terminator: Salvation, wherein a CGI recreation of his face was superimposed over actor Roland Kickinger, who previously portrayed the then-Governor of California in the 2005 biopic See Arnold Run), telling his host, “I can safely say he won’t be [in it].”
“It’s time for a new generation of characters. I insisted Arnold had to be involved in Terminator: Dark Fate, and it was a great finish to him playing the T-800. There needs to be a broader interpretation of Terminator and the idea of a time war and super intelligence. I want to do new stuff that people aren’t imagining.”
To this end, subsequently asked if he had seen Noah Hawley’s Alien: Earth, particularly as it dealt with a more AI-centric twist on established Xenomorph lore, Cameron praised the series as “great; a lot of fun”, but admitted that he was unimpressed with its constant callbacks to the franchise’s first two films, which he said was “what I’m not going to do” with Terminator.
“The things that scare you the most are exactly the things you should be doing,” said the Aliens writer-director. “Nobody should be operating artistically from a comfort zone.”
While said Terminator sequel is still very, very, very early on in development, Cameron’s next film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, is due for a theatrical release this Friday, December 19th.
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