It wasn’t too long ago that we heard the Terminator franchise was dead following the poor critical reception and average box office return for the forgettable and horrifically-titled Terminator: Genisys. We should know that no franchise is ever truly dead in Hollywood when there’s still potential money to be made.
We knew that original creator James Cameron was returning to produce a new Terminator film with Deadpool director Tim Miller at the helm, but now it’s emerged that not only is a whole new trilogy coming, but Linda Hamilton is set to reprise her iconic role as Sarah Connor.
Via THR, Cameron announced at a private event that Hamilton will be returning to the franchise: “As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then, it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return. There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys, but there isn’t an example of that for women”.
Cameron himself has crafted the story for the upcoming film but has assembled a solid writers team to hash out the whole trilogy, which includes David S. Goyer (Man Of Steel), Charles Eglee (Dark Angel) and Josh Friedman (The Sarah Connor Chronicles).
Hamilton will be joined by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the film, which will be a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It’s easy enough with time travel movies to retcon previous stories and unwanted films with alternate timelines and new versions of the future, so the very few ardent fans of Terminator: Salvation out there might not be too happy.
However, this being modern Hollywood, of course Cameron and co. are making plans of interconnect universes and potential spin-off films. They plan to introduce some younger characters in order to continue the story once the original actors get too old, and are crafting stories that could be standalone tales or overarching ones.
Cameron said: “We’re starting a search for an 18-something woman to be the new centerpiece of the new story. We still fold time. We will have characters from the future and the present. There will be mostly new characters but we’ll have Arnold and Linda’s characters to anchor it”.
The way the Terminator franchise is structured could mean a mountain of alternate timeline storylines, spinoffs, prequels and sequels, so Hollywood must be licking their lips at the potential.
No release date is currently set for the first film, but production will likely begin in 2018 when the franchise rights revert back to Cameron. He’s likely to be more hands-off with the project once it gets going, as he’ll be working hard on the Avatar sequels, which finally begin filming this Monday.
#Peace.Love.Terminator
