Arnold Schwarzenegger says that he isn’t done with The Terminator franchise

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

In a perfect world, TERMINATOR: GENISYS would have rejuvenated the franchise and set it off in a fresh new direction, but alas, it was not to be. Although it returned Arnold Schwarzenegger to the franchise which he is most known for, the sequel wound up being mediocre in most every respect. Paramount later pulled the sequel to TERMINATOR: GENISYS from their schedule and it seemed that the franchise, at least with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character, would finally be laid to rest.

However, it seems that we may not have seen the last of Arnold Schwarzenegger as THE TERMINATOR as the actor recently told Fandango that he isn't done with the franchise.

I'm looking forward to doing another Terminator movie, yes. I don't want to call it, like, fake news, like the president calls it, but I think people just write things — I have no idea why. Just because Paramount doesn't want to pick up the Terminator franchise, you have 15 other studios willing to do it — that doesn't mean the Terminator franchise is finished, right? It just means they are on their way to negotiate with another studio, but I can't give you the details of that. They'll announce that. But, yes, the Terminator franchise is never finished. And remember that after 2018, James Cameron is getting it back, and then it will continue on!

In January it was announced that James Cameron would soon be regaining certain rights to THE TERMINATOR franchise and that he was in early talks with Tim Miller (DEADPOOL) to direct. Skydance CEO David Ellison, who still holds many rights to TERMINATOR, said that he would be putting up the dough for an "exploratory effort that includes engaging some top-flight science fiction authors to find the movie creatively." There's no word at this time whether Schwarzenegger will still have a part to play, although he certainly seems to believe so, but Ellison recently told Collider that we can be expecting an announcement about the future of TERMINATOR later this year.

I will say we have resolved the future of the franchise and believe me its an incredibly bright future. I think where it’s going will be the continuation of what the fans really wanted since T2. We have something this year that we will be announcing for the franchise. It’s something we’re incredibly excited about and we think is the direction it needs to head.

I love Arnold Schwarzenegger and I love THE TERMINATOR franchise (for the most part), but at a certain point, I can't help but feel as though they need to either leave it alone or move beyond Schwarzengger. That said, my interest has certainly been piqued by James Cameron's return to THE TERMINATOR fold and I remain hopeful that he can make the franchise relevant again.

What do you folks think? Is there a TERMINATOR franchise without Arnold Schwarzenegger or would you like to see him stick with it?