James Cameron Confirms He’s Working on a New TERMINATOR Movie but Has Been "Unable to Get Very Far"
It looks like the Terminator franchise might not be done just yet. Legendary filmmaker James Cameron, the director behind The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, has confirmed that he’s currently developing a new movie in the sci-fi saga. The catch is, progress has been slow, and Cameron admits he’s hit some roadblocks while trying to shape the story.
Cameron recently spoke with CNN and revealed:
"I've been tasked with writing a new Terminator story. I've been unable to get [very far] on that... I don't know what to say that won't be overtaken by real events. We are living in a science fiction age right now."
When The Terminator hit theaters back in the ’80s, the concept of a self-aware AI system wiping out humanity was pure sci-fi. Today, with artificial intelligence advancing faster than ever, Cameron’s concerns don’t feel so far-fetched.
He’s clearly aware of how close real-world technology is inching toward the core fears at the heart of the franchise.
The last film, Terminator: Dark Fate, received decent reviews but struggled financially, leaving many fans thinking the series was effectively over. That’s why Cameron’s comments are such a big deal, even if the project hasn’t taken solid form yet.
This isn’t the first time Cameron has teased his return to the franchise, while discussing Netflix’s anime series Terminator Zero, he said:
"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."
When pressed for details, he joked: "It’s totally classified. I don’t want to have to send out a potentially dangerous robotic agent if you were to talk about it, even retroactively."
Whether or not Cameron ends up directing this new film is another story. He’s still busy with the Avatar franchise and is locked in to direct at least one more installment after the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash.
That likely means he won’t have the time to step behind the camera for a new Terminator entry anytime soon, though his involvement in shaping the story is a promising sign.
As of right now, we’ll just have to wait and see how Cameron’s new take on the war against the machines develops. Even if he hasn’t gotten very far yet, the fact that he’s back in the Terminator world is enough to get longtime fans curious about what comes next.
