Netflix has released the first six minutes of the upcoming anime series Terminator Zero, which is set to make its big debut later this month. It’s a pretty intense opening sequence. They also shared a new piece of poster art.
Set in Japan, Terminator Zero is going to introduce new heroes into the franchise with help from the team at Production I.G.
The description of the series reads: “2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity.
“Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity.
“As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.”
The series was created by showrunner Mattson Tomlin (Project Power, The Batman II), previously revealed that the series will have the same kind of sci-fi horror vibe as the original movie.
He said: “There’s a completely valid version of the Terminator franchise where the Terminator is synonymous with Jason and Freddy, where he is this unrelenting serial killer. There’s a little bit of Friday the 13th in here. There’s a little bit of Michael Myers in here.”
Tomlin continued to talk about how the series is inspired by that original movie and how it would channel the “serial killer” vibes. It was also revealed that the series will serve as a soft reboot of the franchise and that it’s set directly after Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
The series stars Timothy Olyphant as The Terminator, Rosario Dawson as Kokoro, “an advanced AI and Japan’s answer to Skynet. If brought online, Kokoro will be endowed with the same power as Skynet.”
Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale, MASS) also joined the cast and will play The Prophet, “the philosophical guide for the human resistance, a light shepherding survivors in the darkness of the unknown future ahead.”
Other new cast members include André Holland (Moonlight, The Knick) as Malcolm Lee, “a genius computer programmer and father of three who is haunted by prophetic nightmares of an apocalyptic future.”
Then there’s Sonoya Mizuno (House of the Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians), who will voice Eiko, “a resistance fighter sent back in time to stop Malcolm from launching Kokoro.”
The series is set to premiere on Netflix on August 29th.
