Terminator Zero will be the first anime adaptation that focuses on the world of Skynet and humanity’s desperate, time-traveling war to stay alive in the face of a machine rebellion. While the Terminator franchise has become synonymous with action, as Terminator 2: Judgement Day remains a safe pick for “greatest action movie of all time”, the initial theatrical offering could be downright scary at times. In a new interview, the showrunner for Netflix’s upcoming Terminator anime series broke down how they are hoping to play on the scarier side of Skynet.
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The first Terminator film, released in 1984, introduced viewers to the world of Sarah Connor and her struggle to survive against the unstoppable T-100. Aside from transforming the series into more of an action series than a horror one, Judgement Day also flipped the script when it came to Arnold Schwarzenegger leaping from villain to hero. There’s an argument to be made that the first movie still can be categorized as an action film, though there are more than a few scary elements that push it well into the horror genre.
Terminator Zero Will Be Scary
In speaking with showrunner Matson Tomlin, Entertainment Weekly got an answer as to how Terminator Zero is looking to play up to the original feel of the franchise, “There’s a completely valid version of the Terminator franchise where the Terminator is synonymous with Jason [Voorhees] and Freddy [Krueger], where he is this unrelenting serial killer. There’s a little bit of Friday the 13th in here. There’s a little bit of Michael Myers [from Halloween] in here.”
If this is your first time hearing about the first anime of the Terminator franchise, here’s how Netflix describes the upcoming series, “2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity. 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 is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.”
