Another Terminator film is on the way, but it sounds like it will be more of a direct sequel to Terminator 2 than any of the films that followed. "Sure," you might say, "everybody wants to make the next Terminator 2 and not the next Terminator: Genisys, but that doesn't mean it's actually going to happen." Well, this new project already has three of the most important things you could want from a Terminator film, according to The Hollywood Reporter: James Cameron as a producer, and Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger as stars.
Cameron created Terminator's noir-inspired, sci-fi apocalypse tale and Hamilton imbued it with dynamic life as Sarah Connor in both The Terminator and Terminator 2. Schwarzenegger has popped in for appearances as various killer robots since then, but Cameron and Hamilton have been absent from the series since T2: Judgment Day in 1991.
It sounds like this new film won't pay much attention to the timeline-muddling affairs of Terminator 3 and beyond (Cameron has gone on record to say he wasn't a big fan). Beyond getting the team back together, Cameron reportedly said at a private event that this is another opportunity for the Terminator series to advance gender equality in action movies.
"As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then [in Terminator and Terminator 2], it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return," Cameron said. "There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys, but there isn’t an example of that for women.”
The frickin' rad biker women from Mad Max: Fury Road take exception to that statement, I'm sure, but the sentiment is accurate overall. Hamilton and Schwarzenegger's characters will "anchor" the film but most of the characters will be new, according to Cameron, including "an 18-something woman to be the new centerpiece of the new story".
The new Terminator film is currently set to be directed by Tim Miller, who made his impressive directorial debut just last year with Deadpool. Think of this as another baton-passing moment like Star Wars: The Force Awakens; it's even being planned as a potential trilogy, though with more emphasis on standalone stories.
