James Cameron Reveals Schwarzenegger's Role In 'Terminator 6'

T2: Judgement Day,” James Cameron‘s blistering sequel to 1984’s “The Terminator” is being re-released at the end of the month in newly restored form, but, more importantly, in glorious 3D. The 1991 classic was much more of an action movie than its predecessor. It’s hard to believe that it had initially garnered mixed reviews before being re-evaluated years later as a technical and visceral masterpiece.

Teaming up with Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s T-800, a buffed up Linda Hamilton tried to stop the frightening T-1000 (a cold, precise Robert Patrick), sent from the future to kill her troubled son John Connor (Edward Furlong). I remember being a teenager when it first came out, I had never seen action sequences staged quite like this before, nor had I ever witnessed special effects as inventive and technologically advanced as they were presented. In fact, the special effects still hold up to this day, but so does the beating heart that Cameron injected into his characters. It had everything the 21st-century action film would strive for and yet, 25 years on, not many have come close to replicating the thrills of this 1991 movie.

If it’s been 25 years since ‘T2’ was released then it’s also been the same amount of years since Cameron last tackled or participated creatively in the franchise. We’ve had quite a few duds since then, most notably 2009’s “Terminator Salvation” and 2015’s “Terminator Genisys” both of which lost the visionary aspect that made the first two movies so great. The announcement that Cameron is currently working on a reboot has re-energized fans of the series and the director hasn’t been shy in talking about what he has in mind.

In a live Facebook Q&A, Cameron mentioned that he’s thought a great deal about many plot details, including where the villainous T-800 from the 1984 original got his look, you know, that of a chiseled bodybuilder with a thick Austrian accent. Cameron said that in “Terminator 6,” Schwarzenegger will play the human character that inspired the T-800’s iconic look.

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“Yeah, you got to ask yourself, ‘Why did they make these characters look and sound like Arnold? There has to be a reason. So yeah, it has flashed through my mind that there has to have been a prototype. There has to have been a guy who’s DNA was harvested from – that they grew the organic outer layer that they grew the Terminator from…and that presumably was a real person at some point,” Cameron explained. “Now, the question is, did that person have some sort of meaning to Skynet on why they chose that one (Arnold)? Or was it like a whole rack of Terminators and the one that happened to be the Arnold model just happened to be closest to the door going out to the time displacement center and all the others looked different? I’ve asked myself these questions but it’s never been resolved…so stay tuned! We’re talking pretty seriously now about doing some new Terminator films or possibly a trilogy and you’ll just have to see what surfaces in those.”

An ingenious idea if you ask me, however, Arnold just turned 70 a few days ago and his involvement in this or any movie from here on in would probably have to take age into consideration. The man who had his DNA extracted in the original Terminator was probably in his late 30s,  so you won’t have the problem of CGI-ing Arnold to look younger. Having him play his own age will be refreshing to see and has the potential of being a very moving experience.  Then again, it is still very likely that CGI Arnold will be included in the movie as well since T-800 models seem to be part of the storyline. A lot to chew on, but one can’t help but be excited by the potential that has re-arisen into this franchise. [The Arnold Fans]