Photo: Matt Holyoak exclusively for Empire
Well here's news to warm the cockles of a sci-fi lover's heart ahead of the long weekend. The Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, has signed up to join the cast of Terminator: Genesis, in a role that is described by Deadline as "major" and due to grow in importance in the second and third films in a planned trilogy.
What role is that? Well, it's hard to say. We already know that Jason Clarke is set as John Connor; Emilia Clarke (no actual relation) as his mother Sarah; Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese; Day Okeniyi as Danny Dyson and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator. That's pretty much the original line-up set, which means that this should be a new - or much expanded - role for Smith. The studio press release adds that he has a "strong connection to John Connor" - start your speculation on that now.
A major new character is probably a good thing: if you're going to reinvent something, you might as well *actually *reinvent it and throw something new into the mix. If we were guessing, moreover, we might speculate that Smith could play, or become, a new antagonist for the series, which has been historically short of maniacal geniuses behind the scenes by its very nature. He'd be quite good at that. Failing that, does he look a teensy bit like Robert Patrick to anyone else? Something about the cheekbones.
Terminator: Genesis hits UK screens on June 26, 2015, part of the massive summer o'blockbusters, and we'll be keeping our eyes peeled for more on it between now and then. If you're desperate for a Smith fix in the meantime, have another listen to our podcast with the man here. [[Poll1114]]