After multiple attempts at kick-starting new trilogies of films have failed, the live-action Terminator film series is, understandably, taking a bit of a break… but the franchise is set to continue with an eight-episode anime series called Terminator Zero, which is coming our way from Japanese animation studio Production IG and the Netflix streaming service. Terminator Zero is set to start streaming on August 29th – and to start building the hype, a batch of first look images have arrived online today. You can check them out right here in this article.
August 29th was chosen for the release date because the Terminator films told us that the Judgment Day event occurred on August 29, 1997. Coincidentally, that was also the day Marc Randolph and Reed Hasting launched Netflix as an online DVD rental service.
Mattson Tomlin, who worked on the screenplays for The Batman and its upcoming sequel, is writer and showrunner on this series, which has the following synopsis: 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.
Terminator Zero is directed by Masashi Kudō, who is best known for working on the anime series Bleach. Tomlin serves as executive producer alongside David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger of Skydance.
Are you interested in watching a Terminator anime series? Take a look at the Terminator Zero images, then let us know what you think of them – and the overall idea of this show – by leaving a comment below.
I don’t watch much animation, but I’ll probably give this show a chance.