He’s Back. SCHWARZENEGGER To Return To TERMINATOR Franchise

According to Deadline, director Justin Lin might be following up Fast Five with the return of former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the role that he is likely most identified with, The Terminator.

Although the previous two Terminator films lacked the charm or excitement of the first two, Schwarzenegger’s commitment might reinvigorate the former action stars box office cachet.

Arnold posing for the 20th Anniversary Issue of Empire Magazine

As for a storyline, it was revealed over a year ago that Terminator 1 & 2 co-writer William Wisher apparently has written treatments for two additional sequels.

Wisher’s 2-picture construct takes place in a post-apocalyptic battleground, and factors in an element of time travel that allows for Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese to interact beyond their single fateful meeting when he traveled back in time to protect her in the original film. Wisher has created a role for Arnold Schwarzenegger that is as surprising as his shift from villain in the first film, to John Connor’s bodyguard in the second. Schwarzenegger wouldn’t be needed until the final film, which wouldn’t shoot until after he ends his term as California Governor. And who wouldn’t want to see Linda Hamilton back in aerobic top fitness form as Sarah Connor?

There are several new villains, and plenty of firepower. For instance, a swarm of “Night Crawlers,” 4 1/2-foot tall border sentries that are set like mines to spring up out of the ground and ambush rebel fighters with 10 MM pistols built into their wrists, and fingers and feet that are razor sharp. Also fresh off the Skynet assembly line are new shape-shifting cyborgs that can morph together in Transformers-like mode, and are more lethal than anything we’ve seen in previous Terminator installments.

Wisher presents a satisfying conclusion to what by then would be a 6-picture struggle between Skynet’s machines and John and Sarah Connor to preserve a future that allows mankind to prevail over the machines.

Personally, I was a big fan of Josh Friedman’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and wouldn’t object to series stars Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker reprise their role as Sarah and John Connor.