Acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron says the planned Terminator reboot will take a more “nuanced” approach than his 1984 original.
“We’re developing a new Terminator film. And The Terminator films are all about artificial intelligence. But I would say we’re looking at it differently than when I wrote the first story in 1982,” Cameron said at the press day for six-part documentary series James Cameron’s Story of Science Fiction (via Collider).
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“That was just your classic ‘technology bad, smart computers bad’ kind of thing. Nowadays though — it’s got to be a much more nuanced perspective. So its ‘Smart computers bad… BUT…’ That’s the new motif.”
Cameron, steering his four Avatar sequels, oversees the project directed by Deadpool‘s Tim Miller.
The production, an overhaul of the convoluted time-hopping sci-fi series, will reunite stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton in their original roles. Cameron produces through Skydance Media.
The 2019 reboot marks Cameron’s first involvement with the franchise since 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, which he wrote, directed, and produced.
Oft-maligned sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines followed in 2003, slowing the franchise. A fourth film, 2009’s Terminator Salvation, paved the way for 2015 reboot Terminator Genisys.
That film starred Emilia Clarke in the Sarah Connor role, originally filled by Hamilton, alongside Schwarzenegger as a reprogrammed T-800 tasked with serving as Sarah Connor’s father figure-slash-protector.
Terminator 2019, yet to announce its official title or plot details, is expected to continue on from T2. It was recently pushed back from its planned July 26, 2019 release date to a winter 2019 release.
Miller’s film now opens one week after Paramount’s own Sonic the Hedgehog movie and one week before Disney’s animated Frozen 2.
Most recently, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. star Gabriel Luna, who plays Robbie Reyes, a.k.a. the supernatural-fueled Ghost Rider, was cast as the new near-indestructible robotic killer.
Also joining Luna are franchise newcomers Diego Boneta (Scream Queens), Natalia Reyes (Running with the Devil), and Mackenzie Davis (Halt and Catch Fire).
The newest Terminator is expected to hit theaters November 22, 2019. Cameron’s Avatar 2 opens December 18, 2020, followed by ambitious planned debuts for Avatar 3 in 2021, Avatar 4 in 2024, and Avatar 5 in 2025.
