James Cameron Is Returning To The TERMINATOR Franchise For A "Totally Classified" Project

James Cameron Is Returning To The TERMINATOR Franchise For A "Totally Classified" Project

We have no idea what it is he's working on, but legendary director James Cameron has revealed that he is developing a "totally classified" Terminator project...

By MarkCassidy - Aug 13, 2024 10:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Terminator
Source: Via SFF Gazette

Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day director James Cameron is working on a new project... but that's literally all we have to go on.

Despite decent reviews, the last movie, Dark Fate, was the latest instalment in the franchise to underperform at the box office, and it was generally assumed that it'd be a very long time before we see the war against the machines continue on the big screen.

The saga may be taking a (possibly permanent) break in live-action, but Cameron has now revealed that he is developing a Terminator... something!

The legendary filmmaker shared the surprising news while speaking to THR about the upcoming Netflix animated series, Terminator Zero.

"It looks interesting. My relationship to that is very much like The Sarah Connor Chronicles — other people spinning stories in a world I set in motion is interesting to me. What’s their takeaway? What intrigued them about it? Where are they going with it? It looks like they’re going back to the root cause of Judgment Day — the nuclear war — and whether that’s an ultimate timeline. I’d be curious to see what they’ve come up with. I’m working on my own Terminator stuff right now. It’s got nothing to do with that. Like with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, they occasionally touched on things I had been playing with completely independently. So there’s some curiosity there. It’s not a burning curiosity, but, obviously, it’d be nice to see it succeed."

"It’s totally classified," he added when asked for more details. "I don’t want to have to send out a potentially dangerous robotic agent if you were to talk about it, even retroactively."

Before fans get too excited, this "Terminator stuff" really could be anything. There's obviously a chance it is a new movie or live-action series, but it could just as easily be a comic book, novel or some other media.

In the same interview, Cameron confirmed that he's still planning to direct the next three Avatar movies.

"Sure. Absolutely. I mean, they’re going to have to stop me. I got plenty of energy, love doing what I’m doing. Why would I not? And they’re written, by the way. I just reread both of them about a month ago. They’re cracking stories. They’ve got to get made. Look, if I get hit by a bus and I’m in an iron lung, somebody else is going to do it."

What do you make of this? Could we actually see James Cameron take the helm of a new Terminator movie? Be sure to drop us a comment down below.

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HammerLegFoot
HammerLegFoot - 8/13/2024, 10:58 AM
no
S8R8M
S8R8M - 8/13/2024, 11:00 AM
@HammerLegFoot - I am with you!
HammerLegFoot
HammerLegFoot - 8/13/2024, 11:03 AM
@S8R8M - The only one that I dont think is as bad as everyone says it was was Salvation. I would have love for that story to continue
TrentCrimm
TrentCrimm - 8/13/2024, 11:07 AM
@HammerLegFoot -

Salvation is still a good weekend popcorn flick for me. For me the biggest drag down is Sam Worthington, I just find him one of the most bland unconvincing actor out there.
S8R8M
S8R8M - 8/13/2024, 12:32 PM
@HammerLegFoot - I think that film is underrated. I like that it's gritty and the Terminators are tough to kill.
Not sure on the bar through the heart but it is sci-fi.
MuadDib
MuadDib - 8/13/2024, 11:51 PM
@HammerLegFoot - T1, T2, Salvation. T3 wasn’t very good. Salvation had a few weak points, but was over all very good. It was nice to spend time in the future w/ JC and see how he meets his own father etc. That movie gets way too much hate. Bale did an amazing job as usual, and the robot heart twist was interesting to say the least. Would have preferred they continued down that path way more than what they did the following 2 movies.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 8/13/2024, 10:59 AM
A welcome return, as T2 is still his best film.
Godzilla2000Zer
Godzilla2000Zer - 8/13/2024, 10:59 AM
Eh I'm usually not one to say a franchise should take a break especially one that I love but I absolutely don't have any current interest in the franchise unless it's about the actual war with Skynet set in the future.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 8/13/2024, 3:48 PM
@Godzilla2000Zer - YES! Unless it happened in some other medium like a cartoon, etc, I dont think there has even been a great depiction of that. Salvation kind of touched on it, but I would love to see it come to a full blown war. The day that Skynet goes active and leading to a large scale war, ending with them sending the dude from T1 back in time to save Sarah. That would be incredible with the current technology capabilities.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 8/13/2024, 3:49 PM
@Shivermetimbers - Kyle Reese. Not sure why I couldn't remember his name.
Godzilla2000Zer
Godzilla2000Zer - 8/13/2024, 4:03 PM
@Shivermetimbers - Agreed it's really surprising that they never tried to touch on that show us why it's necessary that Skynet had to invent time travel, why John Connor is such a driving force of the Resistance I mean it's a goldmine of ideas that they won't even touch.
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 8/13/2024, 4:52 PM
@Godzilla2000Zer - I think it has always been a $$$ problem. That is a really expensive movie to make. But hopefully we see it someday.
Godzilla2000Zer
Godzilla2000Zer - 8/13/2024, 8:26 PM
@Shivermetimbers - Yeah good point
dracula
dracula - 8/13/2024, 11:04 AM
At this point just reunite the cast of sarah conner colhronicles for a movie

Nothing else works so might as well continue the one post t2 movie people agree on
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/13/2024, 11:17 AM
@dracula - Man, I sure loved that show. The cast (other than that emo dipwad they had playing John) was way too good to be true. Lena Heady, Summer Glau, Shirley Manson, Garrett Dillahunt, Dean Winters, Richard T Jones, hell, it even gave me an appreciation for Brian Austin Green.
Himura
Himura - 8/13/2024, 11:58 AM
@dracula - Still one of the WORST cliffhangers to cancel a show on. God I wish they finished it with a movie. TSCC has been the only good thing to come from the franchise since T2.
Diend
Diend - 8/13/2024, 11:06 AM
No more, for the love of Vishnu.

Spoken
Spoken - 8/13/2024, 11:12 AM
Oddly enough, I think now IS the perfect time to release a new Terminator movie. You can't make it this bombastic action film though. Especially now with AI, the threat of Skynet doesn't seem so science fiction now. So if anything this could be a really good thriller set in the Terminator universe if done right.

If done right...........
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/13/2024, 11:19 AM
@Spoken - This is a very good idea. Terminator without the Terminator could work really well with the right cast and showrunner. Like The Looming Tower, a badass thriller made all the more effective because we all know what's at stake.
Spoken
Spoken - 8/13/2024, 11:29 AM
@clintthahamster - Yes!! That would be a great idea to make a movie or miniseries on.

There is for sure a lot they can do to make the Terminator movies feel unique and different. Stop with the whole “come back through time to protect you” approach. It doesn’t have to be that.

Hell I’d be down if it went more a horror route too.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 8/13/2024, 12:17 PM
@Spoken - "Stop with the whole “come back through time to protect you” approach."

Right. Up until VERY recently, Star Wars was about Jedi, full stop. The the Mandalorian came along and upended that paradigm, and Andor just blew it up entirely. I think it's fine for something similar to happen in the "Terminatorverse."
Nate212
Nate212 - 8/13/2024, 7:59 PM
@Spoken - I know people disliked The Matrix Resurrections, but the one thing I liked the most about it was the scenes with Neo and his therapist. I think a Terminator reboot could use that as a jumping off point.

My idea would be to do a full reboot trilogy with a 30 year old John Connor as the protagonist. He's a computer developer at Cyberdyne in the present day. In the future, a 25 year old Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese are the leaders of the Resistance. Skynet has won the war at this point, humanity is on its last legs. Sarah is pregnant with John, so her and Kyle travel 45 years into the past. Sarah gives birth to John, they spend a few years raising him until they're arrested by the government for terrorism. John is taken in by Miles Dyson, the head of Cyberdyne, and grows up with his son Danny Dyson. A now 30 year old John who is plagued with nightmares of the apocalypse sees a therapist who is eventually revealed to be Skynet inside an advanced Terminator model.

After a rogue Resistance officer sends a reprogrammed Terminator to assassinate him, John is forced to go on the run with Skynet which manipulates him into activating the program that would lead to its own creation. Whilst this is happening, another Resistance member (revealed to be John's son) breaks an older Kyle out of a government black site and the pair of them must race against time to find John and help him stop Judgement Day. They fail and hundreds of time travel portals open up with an army of Terminators and Hunter-Killers emerging from them. An older Sarah appears at the end to help them escape.

The sequel would be about John, Sarah and Kyle forming the Resistance in the present day. No nuclear bombs have gone off yet, it's just an all out war between humanity and Skynet. Sarah and Kyle sacrifice themselves to save their son. The film ends with Skynet launching the nukes and destroying everything.

The third film would be set 15 years after Judgement Day and focuses on John leading the Resistance in the final battle against Skynet, with a younger Sarah and Kyle as his officers. In the end John and Skynet agree to a truce because both of them realise that neither of them will win if they continue fighting. The film would end with the reveal that Danny who is John's second-in-command sent the reprogrammed Terminator back to kill John in the first film because he learned that Sarah was responsible for his father's murder, potentially setting up a second trilogy.

It'd be a reboot that deals with the same ideas and themes, but it would do it a bit differently. Yeah, it's another time travel story, but it's not a 1:1 remake of the first two films. I've always liked the idea of an army of Terminators coming through time into the present day and having a big war before the bombs fell, I feel like it would be an interesting idea where both sides are on even footing until Skynet decides to cheat.
amesjazz
amesjazz - 8/13/2024, 11:14 AM
Yes.
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 8/13/2024, 11:18 AM
Not sure if he has the time but if he directs a new terminator movie I'd be there day 1.
JustAWaffle
JustAWaffle - 8/13/2024, 11:29 AM
User Comment Image
WruceBayne
WruceBayne - 8/13/2024, 11:36 AM
Didn’t he “come back” for Salvation, Genisys and every other Terminator after T:3?
captainireland
captainireland - 8/13/2024, 11:59 AM
@WruceBayne - yep, he said each one was the "true" T3.
Timerider
Timerider - 8/13/2024, 12:00 PM
@WruceBayne - only as a producer and some story credit and consultant. He didn’t write it or direct it, but he gave them his blessing, especially to Miller.
BraxtonHicks
BraxtonHicks - 8/13/2024, 11:36 AM
Should scale it down and have Sarah/ John Connor being the root cause of Judgement Day/ Skynet existing in the first place. A paradoxical story and drop the idea of a multiverse, we know it's coming.
captainireland
captainireland - 8/13/2024, 12:03 PM
@BraxtonHicks - in a way, Terminator has already set itself up as a multiverse.

The way I choose to view the Terminator movie continuity.

For the sake of sanity while watching the Terminator movies, I choose to view all 6 movies as being in the same continuity, with the timeline gradually changing due to the machines messing with the past as the movies go along.

The way I choose to look at it, 1 to Salvation take place in the same timeline, and some point after Salvation, the Skynet of that timeline messed with the past again, changing the timeline to the one in which Genisys takes place. Then following Genisys, whatever AI rose up in the wake of that movie messed with the past once again, resulting in the Dark Fate timeline in which Sarah never died of leukaemia and John was killed in 1998.

Ideally, the story would have just ended with T2, because I don't think there was any need for anything beyond that. But the fact remains that there are 4 more films and because I hate the idea of reboots and/or ignoring the events of previous movies, this is how I make all 6 Terminator movies fit together in my mind.

And if you want to fit The Sarah Connor Chronicles in, then I guess 1, 2, TSC. Skynet messes with the past post TSC resulting in the T3-Salvation continuity. Then as above from then.
v1101011
v1101011 - 8/13/2024, 3:43 PM
@BraxtonHicks - You just described the German show Dark. Great sci-fi show if you haven't seen it.
Nate212
Nate212 - 8/13/2024, 8:03 PM
@BraxtonHicks - That's one thing I wish the original Terminator 3 script kept in. In that version John was a computer programmer who was manipulated by a female Terminator into installing a virus into Skynet's program before it could be activated, only to inadvertently activate it anyway. I like the idea of John becoming the leader of the Resistance because he's directly responsible for Skynet's creation anyway. He knows its his fault, so he shoulders the burden because he has to make amends for what he's done.
BraxtonHicks
BraxtonHicks - 8/13/2024, 9:27 PM
@Nate212 - surprisingly, I didn't know that so I appreciate that tidbit.

V11- Haven't seen it yet, it's on my list.

Captainireland- that's a good way of looking at it
FireandBlood
FireandBlood - 8/13/2024, 11:45 AM
The Netflix show gonna revive the franchise, watch
thedrudo
thedrudo - 8/13/2024, 11:48 AM
Only reason I’d be interested in another Terminator movie is if JC did it.
DarthNihilus
DarthNihilus - 8/13/2024, 11:59 AM
At this point he should reboot everything and start with the current technology baseline.

The 1980-1990s tech evolution to 2030 don't make sense anymore.. should do a terminator based on a 2060 back to 2030 instead.
Himura
Himura - 8/13/2024, 11:59 AM
Please for the love of god James, make another Terminator movie after you're done with Avatar.
Timerider
Timerider - 8/13/2024, 12:03 PM
@Himura - he would be in a wheelchair if that were the case. He won’t be done for another 9 years.
FrankenDad
FrankenDad - 8/13/2024, 12:10 PM
Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy. We’re good. Move along.
NicolausCopernicus
NicolausCopernicus - 8/13/2024, 12:12 PM
is it fukc!ing up the remaster of the og film
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