The first teaser for Netflix anime Terminator Zero offered a tantalising if all-too-brief glimpse at Mattson Tomlin (The Batman II) and Ghost In The Shell animation outfit Production IG's upcoming take on James Cameron's iconic sci-fi franchise. The latest trailer, released earlier today, gives us a better sense of what the eight-part series has in store for us as it introduces viewers to Malcolm Lee (André Holland), a genius scientist who becomes the target of Timothy Olyphant's time-traveling Terminator when his work in artificial intelligence places him in AI big bad Skynet's crosshairs. Check out the apocalyptic new trailer below:
Set after the events of James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgment Day but outside of the Connors' orbit, Tomlin's series will see Holland's maverick scientist Malcolm, plagued by nightmares of a nuclear apocalypse, take the fight to Skynet with the creation of AI Kokoro (Rosario Dawson). However, in time-honoured Terminator tradition, Malcolm's best laid plans to avert Judgment Day won't go unchallenged here. In this new trailer (which, by the way, gorgeously blends its 2D and 3D animated elements) we see Olyphant's gun-toting robot assassin — a proper horror-inflected, slasher-style killer — stalking our would-be hero as resistance newcomer Eiko (Sonoya Mizuno) gets her time-traveler on in an effort to save Malcolm and change the course of history. It's dark, brooding stuff with an R-rated edge, punctuated by moments of eye-popping, balls-to-the-wall action. So a proper Terminator joint, then!
Here's the series' official synopsis: "Caught between the future and the past is a soldier (Mizuno) sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee (Holland) who works to launch a new AI system (Dawson) 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." Not mentioned in the synopsis but briefly seen in the trailer is Ann Dowd's Prophet, who plays a pivotal role in spurring Eiko into action.
"The end of the world comes tomorrow," says Malcolm during the new trailer's explosive climax as the Statue of Liberty drowns in flames. And, well, we don't know about the end of the world and when exactly that will come (it's above our pay grade), but we do know that Terminator Zero lands on Netflix on Judgment Day itself, 29 August. And just remember folks, you can't spell anime without AI. SKYNET ARE AT IT AGAIN!