"I need answers, alright? Right now." That’s Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese in Alan Taylor’s Terminator: Genisys. But seeing as how Reese is the surrogate for the audience in this new sprint through the Terminator timeline, we all might be echoing that sentiment as we settle in for Genisys. Thankfully, Paramount has shared with us an exclusive character clip on Kyle Reese, with valuable insight into the actor’s preparation to play the role. Give it a watch:
We’ve been down this road before… sort of. Back in 1984, Kyle Reese – then played by Michael Biehn – was sent back in time from the distant future to protect Sarah Connor, the eventual mother of resistance leader John Connor. From what we have been able to learn, similar activity propels Terminator: Genisys forward, only, when Reese (Courtney) lands at his target destination, the Sarah Connor he thought he’d find is different, and nothing he expected comes to pass.
The way Jai Courtney describes it, his version of Kyle Reese is constantly playing "catch up" in Terminator: Genisys, dodging curveballs lobbed at his head because the timeline he now occupies has changed. How did it change? Well, without bending the space-time vortex too badly, a different T-800 traveled even farther back in time to protect young Sarah Connor from the time of her adolescence – think of him as a deadly "emotion" from Inside Out -- and the butterfly effect of that alteration has created a whole new sandbox in which to play.
How large will this sandbox eventually become? That’s for us to decide. We have been reporting for some time now that Paramount and Skydance would love for Terminator: Genisys to kick off a trilogy of films, and I’m confident that Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke and Emilia Clarke are signed on for multiple films. But the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, made it clear recently during a post-screening Q-and-A that it would be up to the audience to decide that they want more stories told in this universe, so we’ll see how clear the future becomes after Terminator: Genisys opens.
For now, we’re able to tell you that our own Mike Reyes is a big fan of the story that is bending Terminator in a new direction. He even whole-heartedly recommends seeing it in 3D, if it suits your schedule. Terminator: Genisys should be playing in a theater near you as you are reading this. Are you planning on checking it out?
