The Terminator franchise can’t seem to launch itself back in the box office with flops like Genisys and Dark Fate, and now Skydance is making the attempt to bring back Skynet with an anime series dubbed Terminator Zero.
The series is set to premiere later this month, and we have a new trailer. Check this out:
Here’s the description as per Variety:
“The series follows the aftermath of Skynet, an AI being, gaining consciousness and waging its war against humanity in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.” It becomes self-aware on Aug. 29, 1997, after which a war rages on for decades.
“Terminator Zero” is set in 2022 and follows a soldier, Eiko (Rosario Dawson), who is sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She journeys back to 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee (André Holland), who is working on another AI system, Kokono (Sonoya Mizuno) to compete with Skynet. Although it exists in the Terminator universe, it centers entirely around new characters.
The series comes from Production IG which is best known for anime titles like Ghost in the Shell and more recently Haikyu!!. Series director Masashi Kudo has worked on titles like Hayate the Combat Butler, and the series is written by Mattson Tomlin who is best known for Mother/Android.
It’s also worth noting that the terminator in this series is played by Timothy Olyphant (The Mandalorian). Though he’s dressed like the T-1000 cop we saw in T2, it does look like he’s a more old school model with the endoskeleton underneath the skin.
Honestly, it’s been a shame that the Terminator films can’t seem to get back on their feet, but the world of the Skynet apocalypse is just so iconic that I’m happy they decided to experiment and give us an anime series instead.
Fingers crossed this will be able to stand on its own, but hopefully it should be a treat for longtime Terminator fans.
Terminator Zero premieres on Netflix on Aug. 29.
