James Cameron has reshaped sci-fi more than once, but nothing in his filmography hits quite like the original Terminator and its legendary sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Those movies imagined a future ruled by artificial intelligence at a time when that idea still felt like pulp fantasy. Forty years later, AI is no longer a far off threat. It’s here, evolving fast, and that shifting reality is making Cameron think twice about how to return to the franchise he created.
During the press rounds for his upcoming film Avatar: Fire and Ash, io9 asked Cameron if he had anything to share about the mysterious Terminator project he teased last year.
Back then he said it was “totally classified” and joked, “I don’t want to have to send out a potentially dangerous robotic agent if you were to talk about it, even retroactively.” This time he opened up a bit more.
Cameron explained that once the marketing cycle for Avatar: Fire and Ash wraps he’ll finally have the headspace to look at what comes next.
“I’ll have some time to write and to consider my next projects and the order in which I do them and so on once we’re done with the marketing on this in a month or so.
“I’ve got a stack of notes this thick [holds fingers about three inches apart], which is how I start all my scripts, on what I want to do with a new Terminator film. I’m going to pour myself into that as a writer.”
He was honest about the challenge though, saying: “It’s difficult. I have to tell you. Science fiction has caught up and is actually overwhelming us at this point. We’re living in a science fiction world, and we’re literally having to deal with problems that in the past only existed in science fiction books and movies.
“Now we’re living it for real. I’ll never be as prescient as I was back in 1984 of imagining this one because I don’t think anybody knows what’s going to be happening a year or two years from now. But I at least want to future proof myself by being a couple years out.”
The filmmaker isn’t exactly hurting for options once he clears his schedule. Along with the potential Terminator revival, Cameron has a World War II project focused on the atomic bombs on his mind. He’s also considering adapting the book The Devils, and of course he still has two more Avatar sequels waiting for him.
Whether he finds a fresh angle that matches today’s unpredictable world or decides to let the franchise rest until the future settles down is something only time will tell. But, Cameron isn’t done thinking about Terminator. He’s cooking up something and I hope we get to see it!
