Netflix's Terminator Zero Finally Resurrects James Cameron's Original Vision For The Franchise

The Terminator might be an unstoppable killing machine, but the same can't be said for the franchise as a whole. After two of the best sci-fi action movies ever made in 1984's "The Terminator" and 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," the saga created by James Cameron began to struggle — and that's putting it lightly.

Since "T2" there have been four movies in the franchise, and frankly, none of them are very good. Now, as is common in the internet age, you can find defenders for every one of the abysmal films that followed "T2." Even the abject "Terminator: Genisys" has its defenders, and you'll find no shortage of praise for Gabriel Luna's Terminator in 2019's "Terminator: Dark Fate." But the trajectory of this once-great saga has undeniably been one of diminishing returns and anticlimactic attempts to revitalize the magic that once made it what it was.

Now, though, things might be looking up. An unlikely savior might have arrived in the form of Netflix's upcoming "Terminator Zero," an eight-episode anime series that, from the looks of things, is doing everything right and avoiding all the pitfalls the "Terminator" sequels encountered. But the most exciting part is that this new series — one of several animated shows that blew us away at Netflix's animation presentation in June 2024 — is actually resurrecting James Cameron's original but never realized vision for the franchise.

"Terminator Zero" is being shepherded by showrunner/EP/writer Mattson Tomlin ("Project Power," "The Batman II"), and from what we've heard thus far he's just the man for the job. Back in May, Tomlin spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the show, revealing that he was leaning into the horror tone of the first two films. He said, "There's a completely valid version of the 'Terminator' franchise where the Terminator is synonymous with Jason [Voorhees] and Freddy [Krueger], where he is this unrelenting serial killer." That's a pretty big deal in and of itself. 

1984's "The Terminator" is essentially a sci-fi slasher. Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 was the robot version of Michael Myers, pursuing Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor with a supernatural relentlessness. What's more, the film was full of body horror elements, featuring scenes in which Arnie removes his own eye, and shots of his facial flesh torn away to reveal the metal endoskeleton beneath. It was disturbing and seemed to speak to the very essence of what inspired director James Cameron to create the franchise in the first place: a nightmare.

Any fan of "The Terminator" should know its origin story. In brief, while shooting a movie in Rome back in 1981, Cameron experienced a fever dream after becoming sick. As he told the British Film Institute, in his dream he saw the "image of a chrome skeleton emerging from a fire." This exact tableau would, of course, make it into the finale of "The Terminator," but that feeling of experiencing a vivid nightmare seemed to pervade the film as a whole, and its sequel. This has been missing from the franchise ever since "T2," and Tomlin seems intent on resurrecting it. But there's another crucial element that even Cameron never brought to fruition.

Another example of Mattson Tomlin's promising approach to "Terminator Zero" is that while the show technically takes place within the same continuity as the films, Tomlin wasn't going to touch anything to do with Sarah or John Connor. As the showrunner rather diplomatically put it to ET, "There's been a run at that a couple of different times." There sure has, and none of them have worked.

So, we've got a showrunner who recognizes the oft-overlooked but crucial horror tone seemingly abandoned ever since "T2," and who isn't adhering to the story of John and Sarah Connor using tortured plot devices in order to make sense of the increasingly complex "Terminator" timeline. Instead, we've got a showrunner who actually sounds like he knows how to reinvigorate this once-great franchise. 

Speaking to Empire, Tomlin briefly elaborated on the main Terminator in the series. Played by Timothy Olyphant, this version of the killer cyborg is unique in a way that makes him one of the most exciting things to happen to the "Terminator" franchise in decades. Tomlin described him as more of a "Creepy Fish Man," adding that he's "not handsome," "a little cross-eyed," and, "Very spooky." Not only are we yet to see a Terminator that isn't played by some absurdly attractive movie star, fans of the series might recognize that this approach actually has a lot in common with one of James Cameron's unrealized visions for the saga.

After James Cameron had the nightmarish 1981 fever dream that gave birth to the "Terminator" franchise, he immediately started developing the killer cyborg at the center of his story. Initially, he was designed as an inconspicuous figure, capable of blending in and conducting his murderous missions without detection. As Cameron once told Variety, "The Terminator was supposed to be very innocuous. He was supposed to be an infiltrator. That was the whole point with the cyborg outer flesh layer that he would just disappear into a crowd."

Of course, in what turned out to be a sci-fi actor replacement that was for the best, Cameron eventually met with Arnold Schwarzenegger and changed his initial plan entirely, casting the bulky Austrian and reworking the Terminator as a physically imposing figure. But during the stage when Cameron was still pursuing his "infiltrator" idea, he envisioned something entirely different, initially sketching concept art that depicted a much more slight, pallid, and even gaunt visage concealing the metal endoskeleton.

Cameron had originally planned to cast actor Lance Henriksen, who would end up playing a cop in "The Terminator" after Schwarzenegger was given the lead role, and who worked with Cameron again on 1986's "Aliens." Meanwhile, Arnie came to embody the killer cyborg at the center of Cameron's film, becoming a star in the process and establishing the image of the Terminator as a pop culture icon. But ever since Henriksen was passed over for the Austrian Oak, fans have wondered what "The Terminator" could have been had Cameron stuck to his original stealthy cyborg plan — to the extent you can find fan art and even an impressively crafted bust of Henriksen as the T-800.

Now, it looks as though "Terminator Zero" might finally give us the creepy infiltrator Cameron never did.

Since "T2," the "Terminator" movies have struggled to match the success and quality of Cameron's initial two films, despite all of them bringing back Arnold Schwarzenegger in some way. In fact, aside from 2009's "Terminator Salvation," the story of the "Terminator" franchise has been one desperately clinging to the imagery first introduced in James Cameron's movies. The results, however, have just been pale imitations of what the great director gave us so many decades ago. Even bringing Cameron on as producer and rehiring the original Sarah Connor actress Linda Hamilton for the most recent entry, "Terminator: Dark Fate," didn't do that film any favors. In fact, it was "Dark Fate" that seemingly prompted Arnold Schwarzenegger himself to quit the franchise.

This ongoing struggle to rekindle Cameron's initial magic has, for some time, indicated that the franchise needs a very obvious fix. Namely, a full reinvention. That seems to be what "Terminator Zero" aims to give us. Talk of the show's horror tone, its disregard for the original John and Sarah Connor storyline, and the simple fact that it's an animated series all speak to this reinvention and point to Mattson Tomlin possessing a real understanding of what the franchise needs. But the inclusion of this "creepy fish man" Terminator is what's most exciting to me, and I'm sure to fans everywhere — not just because it taps into Cameron's very first idea for the character, but because it suggests that the Terminator, much like other pop culture icons Batman or Bond, lends itself to full-on reinvention, and needn't be shackled to one original vision for the rest of its existence.

"Terminator Zero" hits Netflix August 29, 2024.