Arnold Schwarzenegger has been quite busy lately. The legendary action star announced he will star in an upcoming Amazon western series while also remaining active in politics. The biggest buzz surrounding “The Austrian Oak” would be the news he was returning to his most iconic role. Arnold Schwarzenegger once again plays The Terminator in a sixth film in the franchise.
The return of Schwarzenegger to the Terminator franchise comes off as shocking since the movie series seemed, well, terminated. The recent failure of Terminator: Genisys killed that proposed trilogy along with a planned television tie-in series. Yet, The Terminator won’t succumb to termination. Schwarzenegger recently confirmed the new film starts shooting this summer.
What contributed to the change of heart over continuing with the franchise? Simply put, James Cameron is back. The director created the landmark first and second films in the series. He was not involved with the other entries, the problematic entries, that continued the series.
Cameron won’t be directing, though. He serves as producer. Tim Miller sits in the director’s chair, but Cameron will make sure the third film embodies the heart and spirit of the original two films. As for the other three features, those movies will be utterly ignored. Terminator 6 is actually the new Terminator 3. The events of the other three movies either never happened or happened in an alternative universe. Fans can pick their own logical reason why Rise of the Machines, Salvation, and Genisys don’t exist in the timeline of the new film.
Cameron and Schwarzenegger won’t be the only Terminator alumni returning. Linda Hamilton comes back to reprise her classic role of Sarah Connor. In terms of inspired casting, has the new Star Wars movie influenced this new film? The answer is “absolutely.” The new Terminator film intends to borrow heavily from the new Star Wars franchise by using original characters to help establish the new characters who take center stage in the future films. Schwarzenegger and Hamilton likely will play roles similar to Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. Hopefully, things end up working out well and the Terminator franchise finds itself back on the right track.
