Summary

  • Terminator franchise needs to go back to TV for a chance at redemption. Movies have failed to match the epic scale of T2.
  • A Terminator TV series could tell a small-scale, slasher-type story while exploring complex sci-fi elements and character development.
  • The Sarah Connor Chronicles proved that Terminator can thrive on television, allowing actors to truly shine in their roles.

James Cameron has announced that he’s working on Terminator project would be a better way to save the franchise. The central theme of the Terminator series – the threat of sentient A.I. and its ability to destroy humanity – is more relevant today than ever before. It’s the perfect time to tell a new Terminator story. But a seventh feature-length installment in a franchise that hasn’t had a great movie since its second entry might not be the best way to tell that story.

Despite being inundated with years of post-production on Avatar sequels, Cameron has found the time to start writing a script for Terminator 7. Ever since the universally acclaimed double whammy of The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, this franchise has struggled to deliver a satisfying sequel. Cameron previously returned to this property to work on Terminator: Dark Fate, but that movie just ed a long line of disappointments. A new movie might not be the best way to save the Terminator franchise.

The Terminator Franchise Needs To Go Back To TV

Arnold Schwarzenegger as T-800 Rises Out of Flames in The Terminator

The Terminator franchise hasn’t had a great movie since the second one. T2 was the biggest, boldest take on the Terminator formula possible. It remains the ultimate blockbuster. Every subsequent movie has either felt like a pale imitation of T2 or a step backwards from its epic scale and mind-blowing spectacle. There’s no way to top Terminator 2. Four movies have tried and failed, so there’s no use trying to top T2 a fifth time. Instead, the Terminator franchise should go back to TV.

A new Terminator TV series would present the creators with the opportunity to scale back and tell a small-scale, slasher-type story that matches the tone of the original film while also having time to do complicated sci-fi stuff. A Terminator TV show can have its cake and eat it, too. It can focus on character on an intimate level and take the time to get to know them, but it also has the time to explore the franchise’s complex lore in the backdrop.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles Proves Terminator Can Work On TV

Sarah Connor angrily looking at someone in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The Terminator franchise previously jumped to the small screen with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, following Sarah’s adventures a couple of years after the events of Terminator 2. As an episodic TV series, The Sarah Connor Chronicles had the chance to really explore the franchise’s overarching theme of the uncertainty of fate in depth. In a big-budget action movie, the plotting and the set-pieces take focus away from the characters. But in the TV series, Lena Headey and Summer Glau could really sink their teeth into their characters. A new Terminator TV show is arguably a much better idea than Terminator 7.