James Cameron is back in charge of The Terminator franchise, and has revealed an intriguing nugget or two about the movies’ future direction.
It’s 40 years since The Terminator first came out, and like many film franchises that are decades old, it finds itself in an interesting position. One one hand, there’s clearly a legion of support out there for the series. The first two fiilms (both directed by Cameron himself) are greatly loved to this day, while the recent Netflix anime, Terminator Zero, demonstrates that there’s still both space and appetite for stories set in its world.
On the other hand, its been over three decades since we had a Terminator film that actually captured the zeitgeist. After all, it’s not like more recent entries such as Genysis or Dark Fate hooked in generations of new fans.
After many years away, James Cameron is back in the series’ driving seat, and he’s offered his thoughts on what needs to happen to The Terminator in the future. And it sounds pretty bold. Speaking to Empire, Cameron outlined his strategy, saying: “It’s more than a plan, that’s what we’re doing. That’s all I’ll say for right now. This is the moment when you jettison everything that is specific to the last 40 years of Terminator, but you live by those principles.”
“Jettison everything?” You read that right. Cameron goes on to clarify his thinking, arguing, “You get too inside it, and then you lose a new audience because the new audience care much less about that stuff than you think they do. That’s the danger, obviously, with Avatar as well, but I think we’ve proven that we have something for new audiences.”
Read more: Terminator: Dark Fate review | A step in the right direction
It’s hard to argue with his point. Depending on your point of view, the last two films (Genysis and Dark Fate) have either leaned heavily into the series’ lore or allowed themselves to be propped up by nostalgia. Whichever one you consider it to be, it’s clear that it didn’t really work.
So, is Cameron planning to go tabula rasa with the Terminator series’ future? Not quite. Some core ideas will remain, even if continuity, visual design and the tired trick of recycling classic lines look to be heading out of the window. “You’ve got powerless main characters, essentially, fighting for their lives, who get no support from existing power structures, and have to circumvent them but somehow maintain a moral compass,” states Cameron. So far, so good, it seems. “And then you throw AI into the mix. Those principles are sound principles for storytelling today, right?”
He’s not wrong. Getting rid of 40 years of continuity allows for bold, fresh storytelling with an idea that frankly, feels more relevant than it ever has. Will this plan (sorry, ‘it’s more than a plan’ according to Cameron) come to fruition? Cameron says yes: “I have no doubt that subsequent Terminator films will not only be possible, but they’ll kick ass. But this is the moment where you jettison all the specific iconography.”
It sounds like an exciting blank new slate is being lined up for a film series that has been trading on past glories for far too long. It might be a while before we hear more given that Cameron is pretty busy at the moment. More as we get it.
