Arnold Schwarzenegger’s future in the Terminator franchise revealed as James Cameron teases new film

by

James Cameron is planning to revive the Terminator franchise with a cast of fresh faces. 

The director, age 71, told The Hollywood Reporter that Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t return for another installment of the sci-fi series.

‘I can safely say he won’t be,’ Cameron confessed to the outlet. 

We needed fresh faces, but I really wanted Arnold to be in ‘Terminator: Dark Fate.’ I think it was a fitting conclusion to his role as the T-800.

I’m hoping to explore the Terminator universe and its themes of time travel and artificial intelligence in a fresh way, moving beyond what audiences expect. I want to introduce new ideas and perspectives.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been in all of the Terminator movies so far, except for the 2009 film Terminator Salvation, which featured Christian Bale and Sam Worthington instead.

Despite skipping Salvation, his likeness was still included as a CGI cameo in the film.

Earlier this year, Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live that Salvation was his least favorite Terminator movie, simply because he didn’t appear in it.

Arnold Schwarzenegger expressed confusion about a new Terminator film being made without his involvement, stating to Howard Stern, ‘It just doesn’t make sense to have a Terminator movie without me in it.’

Cameron has mentioned he’s looking forward to beginning work on the next Terminator movie as soon as he finishes promoting his film, Avatar: Fire and Ash.

He said that after the initial excitement around Avatar dies down in a couple of months, he plans to fully dedicate himself to it.

One of the biggest challenges in writing science fiction is staying ahead of real-world events. To create believable stories, I need to anticipate future developments and ensure the fiction feels distinct from current reality.

The last Terminator film to be released was 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate.

Even with Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising their iconic roles, the movie failed to succeed at the box office.

The movie Dark Fate, which continued the story from the 1991 film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, lost over $120 million in theaters.

Cameron, who both wrote and produced the film alongside director Tim Miller, later suggested the movie didn’t succeed because Hamilton and Schwarzenegger were older – in their 60s and 70s – during production.

He explained to Deadline in 2022 that the main issue was his refusal to proceed without Arnold’s involvement.

Tim wasn’t keen on Arnold, but I explained that I didn’t want to leave him out. Arnold and I have been friends for forty years, and I knew he’d say something like, “Jim, I can’t believe you’re making a Terminator movie and not including me!”

I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about doing it, but I told them I’d participate if they brought Arnold back, and I’d be happy to do so,” he explained.

Tim then expressed interest in including Linda Hamilton. I believe the film could have worked with either Linda or Arnold Schwarzenegger, but combining them felt wrong. With both actors in their 60s and 70s, it didn’t feel like a Terminator movie, not even one that appealed to the original fans’ parents – it felt like a movie for their grandparents. We realized it just didn’t fit the tone we were aiming for.

Read More

2025-12-20 01:25