The Terminator franchise will extend its legacy through a new Netflix anime series. The streaming giant recently gave us a new teaser for the anime adaptation of the iconic movie franchise, originally starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
As part of the Geeked Week event, Netflix unveiled a new teaser for an upcoming Terminator anime project. The streaming platform is working on the upcoming animated series with renowned Japanese studio Production I.G. The TV show set in the Terminator universe was first revealed by Netflix in 2021.
The new teaser warns, “There is no fate. On August 30th, 1997… Two days from now… Everything changes.”
Mattson Tomlin will serve as writer and showrunner for the Terminator anime series. Tomlin previously worked on The Batman and Project Power and is currently collaborating with Matt Reeves on The Batman Part II. The showrunner is also developing a film adaptation of Mega Man.
“Anyone who knows my writing knows I believe in taking big swings and going for the heart. I’m honored that Netflix and Skydance have given me the opportunity to approach ‘Terminator’ in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations and has real guts,” Tomlin said when the project was announced.
The animation for Terminator will be handled by Production I.G, the Japanese studio best known for working on notable films Ghost in the Shell and Kill Bill Vol 1. The studio also worked on popular anime series Kuroko’s Basketball, Psycho-Pass, and Haikyu!! among others.
Skydance, which owns the right to the IP, will serve as executive producer for the project. Masashi Kudo will be in charge of directing the series.
The Terminator series still doesn’t have a title and there’s little information. According to its official synopsis, the series will follow an unnamed soldier tasked to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee and his work on a new AI system from Terminators. The AI system that Lee is developing will counter Skynet’s impending world domination.
Interestingly, the trailer did give out the date August 30th, 1997, which we assume would mean that it will be set in the timeline of Terminator 2. For those familiar with the Terminator lore, it was revealed in the second film that the date that Skynet gained sentience was August 29, 1997. The malevolent AI then proceeds to initiate a nuclear holocaust, with only a handful of humans surviving the fallout. The introduction of a new AI that will combat Skynet is a fresh new take on the series which involves robots hunting down Sarah and John Connor. However, the plot does seem appropriate given the popularity of AI as a movie villain in recent years.
The Terminator animated series does not have a release date as of writing.
