Terminator Zero Staff Unpacks the Show's Horror Roots in New Interview (Exclusive)

Terminator Zero is now streaming on Netflix.

By Megan Peters

Terminator Zero is a hit, simple as that. Just a few days ago, the ambitious Netflix original made its debut, and it brought The Terminator to new heights. With Production I.G. on hand, Terminator Zero is not just a gorgeous anime but an intensely compelling take on the IP first crafted by director James Cameron. And not long ago, ComicBook got the chance to speak with the executives behind Terminator Zero.

Masashi Kudo, the director of Terminator Zero, spoke with ComicBook ahead of the show's release alongside showrunner Mattson Tomlin. It was there the two creators unpacked the nuanced approach their teams took in bring The Terminator to anime. From its horror roots to its surprising roadblocks, the pair dove deep into Terminator Zero, so you can read up on the history below:

Interview With Terminator Zero Director, Masashi Kudo

I want to ask to Kudo-san is, what was your first introduction like to this project? What was it about Terminator Zero that appealed to you?

Kudo: First of all, I got a phone call from the producer at Production IG, and he asked me if I wanted to be the director. When I heard the title, he said it was Terminator. I was like, is that the Terminator from the movies? I was so surprised. It was so cool.

Can you tell me a little bit about your approach to this project, Kudo-san? How did you end up crafting your vision for what Terminator Zero would look like?

When I was working on this project with Matt, I wanted to create an atmosphere of horror like in the first Terminator. I thought that was a great idea. By doing this, I was able to create a look that accentuated its horror. I also wanted to use calm colors so the screen can differentiate between darkness and lightness. I'm aiming for an aesthetic that builds a dark atmosphere. I'm trying to make it even darker than what I've done so far. In the anime, you get to see the skin of a human melt over the top of an endoskeleton's metal frame. It's a bit creepy, but I really wanted to express that in the show.

Looking at the Terminator franchise as a whole, this Terminator Zero show really harkens back to the first film. I wanted to ask, what is it about Terminator that you think lends itself to an anime adaptation?

I've never done anything like this in an anime before. There are a lot of Terminator movies. So since I am trying to do something new, the way I express Terminator is new too. I think that was one of the reasons.

I wanted to ask, what do you make of this push that we see IPs as big as Terminator being adapted into anime series and looking really amazing as an end product?

Well, I think that anime is a big part of the world because it's being broadcast in Japan now, and it's also being watched all over the world at the same time. I think it's a big part of its success if that everyone can enjoy watching shows at the same time even in a different part of the world. For example, an anime based on manga has a lot of publicity built into it, so I think that anime becomes an anime that everyone in the world knows. When it comes to Terminator, it's not a manga, it's an American franchise.

I think it's interesting when Japanese manga is made into anime. For Terminator Zero, it's more like a co-production, and in that sense, it's a new attempt at something and it's interesting. It's not totally new; There was Animatrix, but it's been a little bit since then. I think this series is accelerating the things in Hollywood that can be made into anime.

Interview with Terminator Zero Writer and Showrunner, Mattson Tomlin

There are a few things more iconic than the Terminator. And now that character is getting to enter the world of anime. So Mattson, I wanted to ask, you know, what can you tell me about how this project began?

Tomlin: I was directing a movie called Mother/Android which is also a robot apocalypse story. So you know, killer robots were on my mind. A call comes in from Netflix saying we've partnered with Skydance Television and Production IG, we want to do Terminator as an anime. They wanted to know if I had any ideas of what that would look like? The first thing that came to mind for me was just the first Terminator movie. With that first movie, you know, there's another version of the world in another timeline where Arnold Schwarzenegger does not become one of the biggest movie stars of the 1990s.

Instead, that first movie is released, and then its sequel is another horror movie. And then the third is another horror movie and another and another and suddenly Terminator is more synonymous with Friday the 13th or Halloween than it is with big Hollywood blockbuster action. So that that initial pull was the thing. It was felt like Terminator hasn't really been associated with horror now 40 years. That felt like a place I could take the series that would make it feel different from what has happened recently.

That was the initial thing. It's easy to say that, but then you have to figure out what the f-ck do I do with this? How do I make people care about it. I've got to figure out what's the story, who are the characters, and very quickly study not just the first two films but all of the films  to understand the venn diagram of what makes Terminator work.

It was clear., Killer robots, sure. Time travel, sure. Nuclear war and the fear of nuclear war, sure. But then, there is also the family element. There are these stories about families that are really palpable. They're rooted in very, very, very raw and primal emotions. So I started writing a story about a family. My hope... if I get to do multiple seasons is to follow this family in a generational story as we watch these kids grow up through a war with the machines and see what happens to them

Terminator Zero, it has a very palpable and raw aesthetic. The animation from Production IG matches with the writing so well. What was it like working with the studio to bring the anime to life?

I can't picture anybody else doing it because now we've been on this four year journey together. I think that for me having never worked in animation before... just knowing that when you think about anime, you could be thinking of so many different things. That could be Samurai Champloo, that could be the Animatrix, that could be Pokemon, that could even be Sailor Moon. Those are all very different things.

For me, kind of the first discussion that I had with them was about physics. It was about how does a Terminator walk? How does it feel? You know, when a car crashes into a Terminator? What is that like? I wanted to make sure that we didn't have people flying around and have physics feel like it was just completely wild.... We have to balance things. 

We have to have Terminator Zero feel like it's an anime because people who are anime fans, they're going to want an anime. But Terminator fans are not necessarily anime fans, so it also needs to feel like Terminator. Production IG was very open to that conversation. I feel now having made the first season that we struck a pretty good balance in trying to be able to answer both of those fandoms who may not be intersecting and are sometimes diametrically opposed. It was an interesting way to go about it.

In the last 10 years, anime has grown exponentially. Now the Terminator is getting its chance to offer something new to two different fandoms with Terminator Zero. I want to ask, what do you feel like Terminator Zero is going to offer to longterm fans of Terminator that they've not seen before from the franchise?

It's the first time that we are telling a story that is not a Connor story. The Connor family, they do not appear in this season. And it's the first Terminator story that doesn't take place in the United States. It's the first Terminator story that is animated.

Those three things on their own, they create an entirely new thing for Terminator. So I would say that to fans who have been wanting something different, this is it. They may love it. They may hate it. They may say no, no, undo, undo. That's totally fine. But, you know, my goal in making this show was to make something that had real palpable heart and soul. To be visually fresh and wickedly entertaining. I hope I did a good job.

Related:

----------

What do you think about Netflix's Terminator Zero? Where does this original rank in the franchise? Give me a shout at @meganwpeters with your take! You can also let us know what you think over on Twitter and Instagram.

Trending Now: