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As we’re all well-aware, our favorite cyborg is back for another turn in the Terminator franchise. The first time Arnold Schwartzenegger took on the role was back in 1984, when he was 37 years old. Now, 30 years later, he’s 66 years old, and there’s no hiding his wrinkles and loose skin, no matter how much work is done in post. So, how are the filmmakers getting around this fact? Arnold recently explained to MTV:
The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath. It’s this metal skeleton. But above that is human flesh. And the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast. But it definitely ages.
Does that mean he’ll be playing the T-850 then, since that is the older model to the T-800? As explained in Terminator: Rise of the Machines, the older looking machine was a T-850, which apparently ages. Either way, we’ll have to wrap our heads around the idea that both the T-850 and T-800 get discontinued at some point in favor of the liquid metal Terminator, but since the franchise has always dealt with time travel, there will always be fresh ones being sent back through time to try to save a young John Connor. Again, Schwarzenegger explains:
Terminator deals a lot with time travel, so there will be a younger T-800, and then what that model does later on when it gets reprogrammed, and who gets a hold of him. So it will be all kinds of interesting twists in the movie, but I feel so good.
One of those interesting twists will be the fact that John Connor in Genesis is older than his mother, Sarah. And what? What’s the deal with a young T-800? Isn’t that a 37 year old Arnold? Or were there different skin jobs on the T-800s that we didn’t know about?
Keep in mind that no matter what director Alan Taylor does to ensure tight a time-travel narrative, there will likely be plenty of gawfas for you to salivate over. Actually, no matter what Taylor does at all, this movie will have its critics… even if it’s just tons of fun to watch.
Terminator: Genesis also stars Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, and Jai Courtney, and opens July 1, 2015.
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