When the Terminator said “I’ll be back,” he really, truly meant it. The Terminator franchise has been rebooted more times than you probably even remember. Not counting Terminator 3, which itself came out over a decade after the legendary second film, Hollywood has tried to bring the franchise back with three separate iterations as well as a full season of television. And yet, even when those projects are good, they don’t catch on.
But, don’t forget…“I’ll be back.” While promoting his new movie Avatar: The Way of Water, director James Cameron subtly mentioned there are talks about, maybe, bringing Terminator back again. Talking on the Smartless podcast (via Playlist), Cameron said the following during a talk about artificial intelligence: “If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try and to launch that franchise again, which is in discussion, but nothing has been decided, I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy.”
Whoa James. Way to just drop that in there. We do know that a Terminator animated series is something that’s been talked about for a year or so, and that the controlling company, Skydance, certainly doesn’t want to waste its valuable IP. But talks of a new film? One that reboots the series from a new perspective? Now that’s exciting.
Then again, 2019’s Terminator Dark Fate was exciting too. For the first time since 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, both creator James Cameron was on board as was star Linda Hamilton. (Arnold Schwarzenegger was there too, but he’d been in every theatrical iteration to date.) All the pieces were in place. And yet, despite solid reviews and a great story, the film fizzled at the box office. For the fifth time in about 20 years, it seemed humanity had defeated Skynet. In terms of the Terminator franchise, it seems history is destined to repeat itself over and over again. Which, honestly, is maybe the most Terminator thing about the franchise since 1991.
Do you have faith in a new Terminator movie? Should it just be over?
Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water.