Josephine Lee
Netflix has partnered with Skydance Media and Production I.G to bring us a brand-new animated version of the Terminator franchise. This new series will “approach Terminator in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations and has real guts” – or at least that is what executive producer and showrunner Mattson Tomlin has said.
This will be the franchise’s first venture into the world of animation, following in the wake of six films and one television series – Fox’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The vice president of Japan and anime at Netflix, John Derderian has been open about the new series, stating, “Terminator is one of the most iconic sci-fi stories ever created – and has only grown more relevant to our world over time. The new animated series will explore this universe in a way that has never been done before.” He continued to add, “We can’t wait for fans to experience this amazing new chapter in the epic battle between machines and humans.”
The Terminator Animated Series#Terminator pic.twitter.com/qvS3aMgt9T
— Pablo Romero (Commissions Closed) (@PabloRomeroArt) May 7, 2018
The Terminator Animated Series Release Date
There is currently no official release date for the Terminator Animated Series as of late. In July 2021 Tomlin confirmed that he had completed the scripts, but it was not until early 2022 that he confirmed the animation production had begun. This delay is likely explained by the coronavirus pandemic, but we are hoping that soon there will be more news of the release date.
The Terminator Animated Series Trailer
As you can probably deduce, there is no trailer as the animations have only just begun. While this is sad for fans of the Terminator franchise who are currently awaiting the release, the anticipation is building and hopefully this means a warm welcome will be given when it does finally reach our screens.
While we don’t have a trailer that can be seen, there are many videos circulating about the production of the animated series and possible plot lines.
The Terminator Animated Series Plot
As of January 4th 2022, Mattson Tomlin tweeted out a teaser for fans, saying, “The animation process is starting… I couldn’t be more excited about my collaborators. The scripts are done and in great shape… An eight-episode first season… Set in a past… But that isn’t to say a Future War doesn’t figure in prominently…”.
As Tomlin mentions, the plot of the series will focus on the past but also the Future War. To not have a future war scene would be disastrous after fans have been crying out for it to happen for many years now. It would be far easier to show the future war in an animated setting so it seems silly that it would not be included. One of the key stories supposedly being used in the animated series is Arnold’s infiltration unit and human model, to explain why his human counterpart was chosen for the program, but we shall wait and see how much of that is true!
From Tomlin’s Twitter Account @mattsontomlin
In a podcast featuring Tomlin, he gives fans three important points to hang on to: all the animations will be hand drawn, time travel is an important element to the story line, and the idea that terminators are used as assassins is just as important. He also shared a photo of the script, with the words “Model 101” on it, so do what you will with this. Compiling the photos Tomlin has shared on Twitter it would seem that Reese will be a character within the series,
Further rumors have John Connor as the leader of the Resistance and not killed off as in future sequels, with the series only focusing on Terminator 1, 2 and Terminator Resistance.
