There have been plenty of rumors surrounding the alleged plot of Terminator: Genisys, the fifth franchise installment that Paramount hopes will kickstart a new trilogy. While some of what we know about the film can be attributed directly to those involved, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reveal that the flesh of a Terminator will age just like a human, other information can only be considered speculation.
Now, thanks to an Entertainment Weekly cover story that reveals some near-laughable photos of the Terminator: Genisys cast, we have some official info on what’s going on with the plot of the film – and it should be very interesting to see how this news is received by fans of the franchise. Here’s an example:
Twist No. 1? Sarah Connor isn’t the innocent she was when Linda Hamilton first sported feathered hair and acid-washed jeans in the role. Nor is she Hamilton’s steely zero body-fat warrior in 1991’s T2. Rather, the mother of humanity’s messiah was orphaned by a Terminator at age 9. Since then, she’s been raised by (brace yourself) Schwarzenegger’s Terminator—an older T-800 she calls “Pops”—who is programmed to guard rather than to kill. As a result, Sarah is a highly trained antisocial recluse who’s great with a sniper rifle but not so skilled at the nuances of human emotion.
I was ready to buy into the idea of Arnold as an older version of the cyborg from the original film – but the idea of him as Sarah Connor’s foster dad is a bit of a stretch for me. Hopefully this is taking place in some sort of alternate timeline, as has been widely rumored, because I can’t think of a way the filmmakers could tie this into the existing canon and have it make any sense. We should know more about the film soon, but in the meantime, check out cast of Terminator: Genisys below (click for the full-sized covers).
That’s Emilia Clarke and Jai Courtney (as Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese) on the left, and Matt Smith and Jason Clarke on the right (as “a loyal ally of John Connor” and John Connor himself, respectively). EW also included a brief synopsis of where the film opens:
The beginning of Terminator: Genisys, the first of three planned films that Paramount hopes will relaunch the beloved sci-fi franchise, is set in 2029, when the Future War is raging and a group of human rebels has the evil artificial-intelligence system Skynet on the ropes. John Connor (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Divergent‘s Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original film, Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor’s mother, Sarah (Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator programmed to kill her so that she won’t ever give birth to John. But what Reese finds on the other side is nothing like he expected.
We’ll keep you posted on more Terminator: Genisys news as it becomes available. The film hits theaters on July 1, 2015.
emilia clarke jai courtney jason clarke matt smith terminator: genisys