Arnold Schwarzenegger Talks Terminator: Genesis

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

terminator tvReady or not, we’re about to get a shiny new trilogy of killer robot movies, as production is set to begin on Terminator: Genesis. Most of the key cast members are already in place, including one in particular, the one that it just doesn’t feel like a real Terminator movie without: Arnold Schwarzenegger. And from all indications, 1980s action icon is pretty damn pumped to be back, hopefully, in that signature leather jacket and those dark black shades.

Talking to The Arnold Fans while hyping up his next outing, the gritty cop-drama Sabotage—I’m glad he’s finally back to making the movies, especially the kind of movies that made his career—he had this to say:

We start filming in the middle or in the end of April and it will be a four or four-and-a-half month long shoot. We will be filming it in New Orleans with some of it in San Francisco and maybe a little of it in LA but most of it will be done in New Orleans. I’m really looking forward to that because as you know, the last time when they did the Terminator, it was when I was Governor and so I couldn’t be in that movie but now I’m back again and they are very excited about having me in the film…The script is fantastic so I’m really looking forward to this film.

None of this is super new news. We knew that filming is going to begin this spring, and that the bulk of it is going to take place in New Orleans, though the San Francisco bit is something we haven’t heard yet. I wonder what that means story wise? The Bay Area is, and has always been, a high tech hub, and it’s not difficult to imagine that, in a preemptive war against Skynet, the hero’s path could lead them there.

There are two big positives that you can take away from this, though. First, the Governator’s level of enthusiasm appears to be pretty high, which is always a good thing. Second is what I interpret as a slight backhanded jab at the last movie. Terminator: Salvation isn’t the worst movie you’ve ever seen, but compared to the first two films in the franchise, it definitely leave something to be desired. Maybe he’s just saying that he wishes he was able to participate in the last film, but I like to of it as a poke, like if he were involved it would have been better. Then again, he was in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and that movie totally sucks, so who knows whether or not he could have salvaged Salvation.

Yesterday we heard that Genesis is going to tread some well-worn ground, and will be revisiting the sites of the first two movies. Presumably this means the action will rewrite some of the preexisting time lines, which could be cool, but could also go horribly, horribly wrong.

In addition to Schwarzenegger, Genesis will star Emilia Clark, Jason Clark, and Jai Courtney. Thor: The Dark World director Alan Taylor will direct the whole shebang, and the movie will open on July 1, 2015.