Arnold Schwarzenegger Confirms He’ll Appear in the Next ‘Terminator’ Movie
Throughout the years, the one constant in the Terminator franchise has been Arnold Schwarzenegger. Even after director James Cameron quit the franchise, Schwarzenegger kept on chugging along, appearing in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machine, Terminator Genisys, and even having his likeness pop up in Terminator Salvation while he was still the governor of California. So with the news that Cameron was back in charge of the franchise again, fans have been wondering if the actor had one last showing in him as everyone’s favorite compassionate death machine.
And yep, you guessed it: he’ll be back. In an interview with Screen Daily (via Bloody Disgusting), Schwarzenegger admitted that he’d had a meeting with Cameron and was gearing up to return to his iconic role. Here’s the full quote:
It is back. It is moving forward. He has some good ideas of how to continue with the franchise. I will be in the movie.
On the one hand, this is great news. Few actors are as happy to return to an iconic role as Schwarzenegger is with the Terminator; he’s even been known to pop up at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood and startle fans just because he thinks it’s funny. It’ll also be good to see Cameron and Schwarzenegger reuniting after years of working on different projects. Nobody understands the blend of humor and pathos Schwarzenegger brings as an actor quite like Cameron, and odds are good that whatever the filmmaker has in mind for his next film, he’ll do Schwarzenegger justice.
On the other hand, though, Schwarzenegger isn’t getting any younger, and the studio is going to have to take this franchise in a different direction at some point if they want to keep the property alive. Maybe I just loved the freshness of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles more than the average person, but the criticism here seems kind of similar to the one often levied against Star Wars. Cameron and company created this incredible sandbox to play around in and, to date, have pretty much stuck to the back right corner. I’ll never not be excited for a James Cameron film, but time will tell what the next Terminator movie has in store for us.