The Terminator franchise, which has been dormant onscreen since 2009’s Salvation, has nevertheless been clanking away in development. Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison paid a fortune for the rights a few years ago, and has since teamed up with brother David’s Skydance Pictures. Now Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier have been hired to write a script for the next instalment.

Kalogridis’ name is familiar to fans of Terminator godfather James Cameron because she worked on the script and produced the first Avatar. She also wrote and produced Scorsese's Shutter Island and scripted Alexander for Oliver Stone.

Interestingly, she also has a “Special Thanks” credit on a little film called Dracula 2000, directed by one Patrick Lussier. He’s also been behind such films as Drive Angry, My Bloody Valentine and White Noise 2: The Light. David Ellison hired the pair to write something else that’s sci-fi flavoured based on an original idea, but from the sounds of it, a new Terminator film will be their focus.

Megan Ellison is known as the deep-pocketed backer of indie fare such as Zero Dark Thirty and The Master, while David has ties to movies including Jack Reacher and this year’s Star Trek sequel, Into Darkness. It’ll be interesting to see what results from the two collaborating, especially with something as popular as the Terminator series.