James Cameron Explains Terminator: Genisys' Grey T-800!

TerminatorBy Gavin Oct 20, 2014Comments

It has been well publicized that Arnold Schwarzenegger will, of course, be portraying an older looking Terminator in the forthcoming new movie, Terminator: Genisys. And while a grey haired T-800 in jeans and cargo jacket (pictured below) may not match the cold, heartless biker “Terminator” image we are used to, it seems the David Ellison, one of the producers on the hotly debated “reset” to the Terminator franchise was given the answer from Terminator creator James Cameron – Arnolds Terminator was sent back further into the past than it was meant to, and as such its tissue sheath has aged. Speaking to Deadline recently at The Terminator‘s 30th anniversary at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles Cameron explained...

Why is Sarah pointing a gun at her adult son, and why is the Terminator and Reese letting her?

"I pointed out that the outer covering (of the Terminator) was actually not synthetic, that it was organic and therefore could age. You could theoretically have a Terminator that was sent back in time, missed his target, and ended up just kind of living on in society. Because he is a learning computer and has a brain as a central processor he could actually become more human as he went along without getting discovered."

This idea actually harkens back to Cameron's original idea of the Terminators being used as infiltration units (back when Lance Henriksen was to play the Terminator), dispatched to replace captured human resistance fighters and gathering intelligence on the resistances bases, forces and defences. Furthermore, this means that a reprogrammed T-800 has been living amongst humankind for years (how many?) unnoticed and undetected waiting to fulfil its mission, but it also begs the question of when was it sent; before or after Kyle Reese and the 1994 Terminator, or after the 2004 T-850?

The Terminator sent back to Judgment Day, 2004 was actually an upgraded T-850, whom had previously terminated John Connor on Julth 4th, 2032.

Presumably, taking into account the reset nature of the storyline as inferred recently by Jai Courtney, and speculated for months by us, this new Terminator should have been sent back from 2032, after the Terminator that was sent back to protect John as a child in 1994, in an attempt to change the events depicted in the first two movies (effectively cancelling out the later two movies) and to undo the untimely death of John Connor at the hands of a T-850. Yet, why is John Connor (Jason Clarke) alive and well, and in the past (hiding from the T-850?). Also, with 2004 always having been the date of Judgment Day any changes this new Terminator has been ordered to make would result in a much worse timeline of events for the resistance.

Ironically, at the anniversary event Cameron also reiterated his bizarre position of abandon on the movies and the franchise that he co-created, and which helped him become one of Hollywood's most powerful directors...

“It’s not my problem, that’s the beauty of it. It’s like being a grandparent and the kids come over then you can send them back. I think the chain’s been broken by the films in between. When I walked away from it I had to do it with the sense that I can’t invest in this emotionally anymore. If it’s not good, it doesn’t really bother me personally.”