Summary
While theTerminatormovie franchise has been hit or miss with its sequels and prequels, there’s no doubt that it’s one of the most popular titles in modern science fiction.The first film, starring a little-known actor whose best line was just three words, “I’ll be back,” has inspired video games, television shows, and one movie after another that has tried to capture it’s magic.
Terminatormovies and television show quality has been quite varied, so there are some who believe it might be time to just leave the franchise in the past. However, the fact that it’s still so popular and the fact that there’s still plenty of money to be made from theJames Cameron story and charactersmeans that its inevitable that another installment will be made at some point. It would appear that Cameron knows someone will go back to that well whether he wants them to or not. So instead of leaving it in someone else’s hands he’ll do it himself. However he knows when a storyline is used up and that’s why he’s said his next installment won’t involve any of the characters from the previous material. That’s a good first step. New characters will be welcome. It’s also time for a brand-new setting.
Set Terminator Somewhere Else With Someone Else
WhenCameron goes back to theTerminatorfranchise next, it won’t involve the T-800, or the the T-1000 or even the T-3000. It won’t involve any variation of John Connor nor his mother Sarah. In an interview withEmpire, Cameron made it clear that ground has been tread enough and it’s time for fans of the franchise to meet new antagonists as well as new protagonists.
“This is the moment when you jettison everything that is specific to the last 40 years of Terminator, but you live by those principles.”
Among the things that should be jettisoned is a filmset in North America. Up until now, every single live-actionTerminatorfilm and television show has taken place either in the United States or Mexico. OnlyTerminator: Dark Fatewent south of the border. One way for thefranchise to move forwardisto give audiences a truly different point of view.
James Cameron has an idea what he wants to do with the next Terminator, but hasn’t shared any hints.
The very basic premise of the war against the machines is that the world, as most human beings know it, has ended. And yet, fans of theTerminatorfranchise have never really gotten a look at what happened to London, or Paris, or Berlin or Melbourne or really any other part of the world. If there won’t beany version of John Connorinvolved in the nextTerminator, there’s no need to tie the movie to where he lived.
Setting the movie overseas in Europe or Africa or Australia, someplace never seen before in the other movies allows the franchise to really move on.
Setting the movie overseasin Europe or Africa or Australia, someplace never seen before in the other movies allows the franchise to really move on. And the added bonus is that audiences get to really feel what the machine takeover of the world was like to … everyone else.
Terminator Meets Quiet Place
Physical setting is just one change that can come along withsaying goodbye to Arnold Schwarzeneggeronce and for all. If Cameron really wants to change everything for the next installment, then completely changing the plot while still sticking to the basic elements that makes aTerminatorpart of the franchise could be welcomed.
Audiences have seen plenty of the moviescentering around the predestined timelines. John Connor, the Dani Ramos, Kate Brewster. The leaders of the resistance being hunted in the “past.” The resistance ground has already been tread enough that Cameron doesn’t need to make a movie where the humans have banded together and launched a counter offensive.
What hasn’t been covered nearly enough is what Judgement Day really felt like to people who had no idea what was happening or why. A focus on the immediate aftermath, in an area of the world that wasn’t blow to bits by nuclear bombs. A part of the world where people were minding their own business when a robot army suddenly invaded could be quite interesting. Acombination ofA Quiet PlaceandTerminatorwould be a refreshing change. Essentially, the most interesting parts ofDark Fate, only for the entire film.
It would be the kind of fresh approach that Cameron seems to be alluding to.
Terminators could still playthe biggest part in this type of movie, only they would be hunter killers in the “future” looking to try and wipe out human beings before they could regroup and form the resistance. Instead of going on the offensive the way most of theTerminatorfilms have the heroes, the next film having people simply trying to survive, trying to get away and maybe finding the people who form the resistance near the end would be a great way to jumpstart a reboot. It would be the kind of fresh approach that Cameron seems to be alluding to, that wouldn’t require callbacks to any of the films or characters the previousTerminatormovies have involved. This would also allow the next flick to be its own thing and search out new audiences.
