Back in January, it emerged that Terminator franchise father figure James Cameron was aiming to take back more control of the films' future. He was announced as developing one movie with Deadpool's Tim Miller attached to direct, but now it appears he has bigger plans.
"I think it’s fairly widely known that I don’t have a lot of respect for the films that were made later," Cameron tells Australian news site news.com.au. "I was supportive at the time in each case for Arnold’s sake because he is a close friend. He has been a mate of mine since 33 years ago so I was always supportive and never too negative. But they didn’t work for me for various reasons."
So what happens next, and how can he find his happy place again? "The question is – has the franchise run its course or can it be freshened up?" continues Cameron. "Can it still have relevance now where so much of our world is catching up to what was science fiction in the first two films. We live in a world of predator drones and surveillance and big data and emergent AI.
“So I am in discussions with David Ellison, who is the current rights holder globally for the Terminator franchise and the rights in the US market revert to me under US copyright law in a year and a half so he and I are talking about what we can do. Right now we are leaning toward doing a three-film arc and reinventing it."
So "leaning towards" doesn't necessarily mean that's what he'll do - and we know he'll be mostly overseeing, since his life is taken up with Avatar, but it's certainly possible that Cameron could be the man to restore the Terminator's glory. Or perhaps he should leave it be?