Though they were on TV in one form a few years ago with the under-seen and underrated Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, it would appear the machines are ready to launch another assault on our small screens, and we have Annapurna Pictures and Skydance (not Skynet) Productions to thank for it. The producers behind the planned new Terminator trilogy are working on a series to extend the story of the film currently in development.
X-Men: First Class / Thor writers Ashley Miller and Zack Stentz (whose TV credits include Fringe and The Sarah Connor Chronicles) will act as executive producers to launch and guide the new show, alongside current Terminator film script bods Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier.
What plotlines will the show use? That info has not yet been released, for obvious spoiler reasons, but Deadline reports that it'll follow a plot moment from James Cameron’s 1984 original, yet spin it off in a completely different direction.
There are also ambitious plans for the new movie(s) and the show to intersect at different points, a little as Marvel has been trying to connect its Cinematic Universe with Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. with varying levels of complexity and success. And yet the Terminator idea appears to be even larger, approaching Ron Howard’s bold plan to turn Stephen King’s The Dark Tower into a series of linked shows and movies, though Howard has famously still not managed it. Perhaps with a proven brand, Team Terminator might have more luck.
The film, meanwhile, has Thor: The Dark World’s Alan Taylor overseeing its march to the screen in 2015, and Arnold Schwarzenegger attached to reprise his most famous role in some fashion. Current word on the movie is that Taylor and the producers are narrowing in on an actress to take over the role of Sarah Connor. Going through the phone book must be a tough way to do it…