James Cameron has revealed more about the narrative plans for future sequels in the Terminator movie franchise.
The latest film in the Terminator series Dark Fate, which Cameron produced, has been released in the UK today (October 23), and stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead roles.
Cameron, who directed the first two Terminator films in 1984 and 1991, has now spoken in more detail about the narrative plans for future Terminator movies — with many people anticipating that Dark Fate is the first part of a new trilogy — and how the filmmakers are looking to explore the human relationship with artificial intelligence.
“I don’t feel we did that in Dark Fate. I feel that we set the stage or we set the table for that exploration, and that exploration would take place in a second film and a third film,” he told Collider. “And we know exactly where we’re going to take that idea.
“What we wanted to get in the first movie was this idea that it’s just going to keep happening,” Cameron continued. “The names will change, but the basic conflict is going to continue to take place until it gets resolved one way or the other.
“And so I believe we’ve set that table and if, like I said, if we get the opportunity, we know where to take the story so that it doesn’t become… I think you start simple and then you elaborate, and you can elaborate over a series of films.”
Cameron also voiced his hope that a trilogy of new Terminator films will eventually come about — “if they’re made by the same people with the same intentions and the same philosophy” — but added: “I think Dark Fate stands alone as a pretty good one-time story”.
Earlier this week, Terminator fans in the US who attended special screenings of Terminator 2: Judgement Day were instead shown advance screenings of Dark Fate.