TERMINATOR: James Cameron Confirms That A Franchise Relaunch Is Being Discussed

It seems Dark Fate may not have been the final nail in the Terminator franchise's coffin after all! James Cameron has now confirmed that a relaunch is being discussed, though "nothing has been decided."

By MarkCassidy - Dec 21, 2022 08:12 AM EST

Filed Under: Terminator

Terminator is still considered one of the greatest sci-fi/action movies of all time, and T2 is a rare sequel that arguably surpassed the original. The four movies that followed all have their moments (well, Genisys...), but most would tend to agree that none of them came close to James Cameron's originals.

The most recent instalment, Terminator: Dark Fate, is generally viewed as being the best of the bunch and actually fared pretty well with critics, but audiences simply didn't show up, and the movie ultimately flopped.

Cameron was a producer on Tim Miller's film, and recently shouldered the blame for its failure by revealing that he insisted on Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to his most famous role (he felt bringing both Arnie and Linda Hamilton back was overkill). Now, the director has suggested that Dark Fate wasn't the coffin nail in the Terminator franchise most of us assumed it would be.

“If I were to do another Terminator film and maybe try 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,” said Cameron while being interviewed for the Smartless podcast (via SFFGazette.com).

Some may find it hard to believe that they're actually thinking about developing another Terminator film given the tepid response to the last one, but based on Cameron's comments, it sounds like this potential project might be a full reboot without any ties to the movies that came before.

Do we like the idea of evil AI taking over from the classic killer machines, though? Drop us a comment down below.

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92 Comments

1 2 3

GhostDog - 12/21/2022, 8:28 AM

Hire Leigh Whannell or do an anime

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 8:28 AM

The waters too muddied now, kind of destroyed the Terminator name.

Would love a TV Series reboot in 10 years that shows the events of T1 & T2 intercut with scenes of the Future War and battles against Skynet.

We don't need anymore bad remakes of T2....!!!

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 8:51 AM

In addition to this the first 2 films were tense with a lot of heart as well.
Something that the other sequels ignored or never understood

The1st - 12/21/2022, 9:16 AM

@SimplyAz - True. Subsequent films fell into the modern trap of spectacle over substance. Intercutting is the norm nowadays, so I almost expect that if the franchise continues though. The last one also felt somewhat mailed in. I like Clark and Courtney, but I just watched it feeling like they missed the mark and were hamming it up to an extent. Of course, if Cameron came back, the visuals would be amazing I'm sure.

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 9:24 AM

@The1st -

Definitely that's why the sequels have been pretty generic with the odd interesting idea or scene.

There's plenty of Non-Terminator movies that caught the spirit of the first 2 than any of the remakes/sequels have

The1st - 12/21/2022, 9:27 AM

@SimplyAz - I feel that way about DBZ in live action oddly enough, but that's another story. I've seen lots of quality DBZ action...just not in a DBZ live action film.

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 9:40 AM

@The1st -

The DBZ live action was so painful man

bobevanz - 12/21/2022, 9:48 AM

@SimplyAz - if he actually writes and directs it, I'm down. But it's not gonna happen lol

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 9:55 AM

@bobevanz -

I'm always down for more James Cameron, can only see him do it if he wants to show everyone how it's done

mdwilliamson24 - 12/21/2022, 1:05 PM

@SimplyAz - Imagine if Cameron dedicated as much time, resources and effort he's put into Avatar into a Terminator Future War movie
With good or great scripts.
With the technology that went into Avatar, man we fans can only dream of the apocalypse world in the Terminator universe would have looked like.

Taonrey - 12/21/2022, 1:35 PM

@SimplyAz - Michael Biehn looks like Sebastian stan in that gif

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 2:38 PM

@mdwilliamson24 -

Oh man, that would be absolutely amazing and there absolutely would have been an audience for it.
I wonder if he knew what would happen with the franchise, does he wish he'd have done T3?

SimplyAz - 12/21/2022, 2:38 PM

@Taonrey -

He definitely does

dragon316 - 12/21/2022, 6:29 PM

@The1st - only dragon ball live action movie came some what close was dragonball evolution bulma purple hair, bulma throwing capsule turn into bike , ozzuro , piccolo fly, chi chi and goku fall in love , goku spikey hair .,

Dragonball magic begins was ok goku non spiky hair, bulma no purple hair , master roshi turtle shell on his back yeah but he dances does moon walk, emperor pilaf is not pilaf has villain same size as goku , no capsule corp capsules being used in movie, both dragonball live action movies have good and bad things about them

The1st - 12/22/2022, 12:34 PM

@dragon316 - True dragon, in a sense, but those movies leave much to be desired.

ShimmyShimmyYA - 12/21/2022, 8:34 AM

CorndogBurglar - 12/21/2022, 8:38 AM

They shouldn't be focusing on relaunching the franchise. You're never going to out-do the magic of the first 2.

Since we all know now that no matter what the characters do in the present time, Skynet will always rise up in the future and start a war, what they SHOULD do is start a spin-off movie series/trilogy that takes place in the future.

And I don't mean the future we saw in the Christian Bale one. I'm talking further in the future. The future we saw glimpses of in T2 that looked so awesome. The dark future with shiny terminators shooting laser guns and stepping on human skulls future.

The first movie is the humans feeling like they can't win, so they send Kyle Reese back in time. End that movie with a cliffhanger of them realizing that Kyle Reese didn't change anything. Then move forward from there.

If Terminator has taught us anything it's that the war in the future will need to be won by the people in the future. Because literally everytime they try time travel shenanigans it doesn't stop Skynet from rising up.

How they haven't thought to make a movie entirely in this future war is beyond me. It's ripe for the taking and could be so cool.

The1st - 12/21/2022, 9:20 AM

@CorndogBurglar - I dunno. Shows like Mando and Andor for SW have sort of dispelled the notion that you can't go home again. It would take the right people to make it happen, passionate and next gen without being inherently woke with the presentation imo like a Gilroy.

CorndogBurglar - 12/21/2022, 10:00 AM

@The1st - Mando and Andor are playing in a huge universe with all different parts though. They are also relatively new characters.

What would a new Terminator Franchise reboot do differently? From this article it would focus more on AI aspect. We know that. But it would still need to be about the creation of Skynet. And since it's a Terminator show it would have to have a Terminator in it. Which means unless a Terminator is created in the present time fairly early in the show, we would still be dealing with a Terminator coming back in time to kill someone.

It just sounds like anything called Terminator that takes place in the present would be retreading what we've already seen and know.

Mando and Andor are all new and have a very large and diverse world to play in.

The1st - 12/21/2022, 10:22 AM

@CorndogBurglar - I didn't see anything in this article regarding a show, but I'd prefer it return as a film. I understand the fatigue, but what makes Mando and Andor work is not the sandbox, but the portion of it the respective shows have chosen to play in. It's a different perspective from what we've been given previously. Reboots are inevitable, especially in this era of the soft reboot. My only hope is that the execution matches the ambition...or in this case greed, for lack or a better word.

DudeGuy - 12/21/2022, 8:38 AM

1 I love
2 is in my top 10
3 I can watch on a weekend morning once in a blue moon
4 is a guilty pleasure
5 and 6 I hate

AscendedExtra - 12/21/2022, 9:19 AM

@DudeGuy - My ranking verbatim. I really wished the follow-up to Salvation had kept it focus on the war in the future, and bring it full circle ending with Connor sending Kyle back.

IMO that sequence is what should've bookended the entire series. We begin in the past with Kyle arriving from the future, and we end in the future with Kyle going back to the past.

MaxPaint - 12/21/2022, 8:38 AM

Holy shit just let it rest.

The1st - 12/21/2022, 9:22 AM

@MaxPaint - They can't... They are true disciples of the great religion, followers of the holy book. In short,

HulkisHoly - 12/22/2022, 8:31 AM

@MaxPaint -

Thank you!!!

Blergh - 12/21/2022, 8:42 AM

Unless it's not a time-line ender dealing with a paradox created by all the timetravel and alternate universe I'm not interested.

CorndogBurglar - 12/21/2022, 8:54 AM

@Blergh - I mean, the entire Terminator franchise is already a time Paradox.

The humans send Kyle Reese back to stop a Terminator from killing Sarah Connor, because they need her to give birth to John Connor. But Kyle Reese is the father of John Connor. And the only reason Skynet exists is because the Terminator came back, got destroyed, and they got their hands on the Terminator chip and hand and were then able to create AI and Terminators.

So, how did Skynet exist in the future to send a Terminator back in time if that Terminator is the reason that Skynet even got built to begin with? It's all a Paradox.

One would think that if the humans wanted to win the future war, they just wouldn't send Kyle Reese back. Because then Skynet wouldn't have sent a Terminator back, and then Skynet never would have been built. But that's the Paradox. Skynet already did exist before that happened. It's fate. Skynet was always meant to exist in the future, no matter what.

philinterrupted - 12/21/2022, 10:53 AM

@Blergh - they introduced the idea of multiple timelines in Terminator Genisys. I liked the concept, the execution and casting wasn’t very good though.

Twenty23Three - 12/21/2022, 12:00 PM

@Blergh - this, it’s the future, the resistance knows the universe is being torn apart from too much time nonsense. So John Connor (bring back furlong [frick] it) needs to destroy all the time machines. The only way in Is by getting the guy they based the Terminators on out of hiding to walk in a nod blow it all up Boom, Logan but with Arnie.

Blergh - 12/21/2022, 4:02 PM

@Twenty23Three - that's exactly what I was thinking lol

TheComedian67 - 12/21/2022, 8:48 AM

"I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy"

To me that sounds like Cameron doesn't get what audiences connected with when it comes to T1 and T2, they were simplified character stories at their core imo. For me the Terminator movies are good because they aren't stuffed full of needless exposition and plot points.

It's a basic survival thriller with real, believable characters, this quote just sounds like James wants to make another sci-fi epic.

CorndogBurglar - 12/21/2022, 8:52 AM

@TheComedian67 - Isn't this Aliens TV show supposed to focus heavily on AI also? I don't know if Cameron has anything to do with that, but I find it interesting that both would focus on it.

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