I haven't been able to figure out if there's legit excitement for James Cameron's proposed Terminator reboot, which looks to be directed by Deadpool's Tim Miller. The announcement was somewhat underwhelming, but after the disaster that was Terminator Genisys it's possible fans of the franchise were happy to hear anything about Cameron's return. One aspect that hasn't been as warmly-received is the inclusion of Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose presence hasn't made any of the most recent movies better and hasn't helped the box office, either.
And now we're learning a bit more about what Cameron has in store for Schwarzenegger's T-800, and frankly, I'm a bit torn. Also, it's strikingly similar to a rumor that surfaced back in the pre-Genisys days. Here's what Cameron said during a Facebook Q&A captured by The Arnold Fans...
"Yeah, you got to ask yourself, ‘Why did they make these characters look and sound like Arnold? There has to be a reason. So yeah, it has flashed through my mind that there has to have been a prototype. There has to have been a guy who’s DNA was harvested from – that they grew the organic outer layer that they grew the Terminator from…and that presumably was a real person at some point. Now, the question is, did that person have some sort of meaning to Skynet on WHY they chose that one (Arnold)? Or was it like a whole rack of Terminators and the one that happened to be the Arnold model just happened to be closest to the door going out to the time displacement center and all the others looked different? I’ve asked myself these questions but it’s never been resolved…so stay tuned!"
Back when we were all still trying to figure out what Terminator Genisys would be, one of the popular rumors was that Dwayne Johnson would be part of the film, starring alongside Schwarzenegger. Only in this version of the story, Schwarzenegger wouldn't be playing the killer T-800 robot. He would be the human who inspired the prototype of the T-800, based on his ability to defend the Connor family. Here's how it was summed up at the time:
Incredibly, Schwarzenegger may not play the role of a machine in the next film, but a potentially heroic human figure in or close to the Connor family. One theory is that Schwarzenegger’s remarkable ability to protect the Connor family in the 1940s or 1950s with antiquated weaponry by today’s standards ultimately inspired the machines to develop a terminator in his likeness that was eventually sent to 1984 when Sarah Connor was first targeted for termination.
So it's a clever, if familiar, idea that Cameron is talking about. However, I really would like to see the franchise make a clean break from Schwarzenegger. He's added nothing of value in a long time and it's time to move on.
