With the Terminator franchise planning to bring itself into another decade of operation, the plans of those involved are coming into focus. With that new focus comes a better look at just what's going to happen in Terminator: Genisys that sparks a brand new trilogy of adventure and time travel. In fact, the latest look at just what's happening in the world of John Connor and the T-800 comes from a source that's been rather giving with information pertinent to the future: Jai Courtney himself.
Collider had the pleasure of chatting with the friendly Courtney, who is the latest actor to play the role of Kyle Reese, father/best friend of human resistance leader John Connor. More specifically, Jai Courtney has given us some more perspective on a rather vexing aspect of Terminator: Genisys that's eluded clarification since day one: is it a reboot or a sequel? Below is Courtney's answer, which is predictably none of the above.
It’s more of a ‘reset.’ That’s the awesome thing about when you play with time travel. We can kind of get away with, you know, maybe we’re introduced to a world that audiences know but circumstances can change and that shifts the course of everything."
So much like Star Trek '09, Terminator: Genisys is going to more than likely go back in time and start to overwrite the previously existing timeline with a brand new chain of events. This not only falls in line with JJ Abrams' Star Trek reset, it also matches what was previously considered as a storytelling tactic to continue the franchise after Terminator Salvation was released in 2008. With the concept of a massive rift between the future and the past opening up and unleashing all sorts of hell on humanity, the concept for Terminator: Genisys' previous incarnation had fallen by the wayside, lost to the shores of time.
However, if Jai Courtney is telling the truth about Terminator: Genisys, then maybe this concept hasn't fallen away completely. Which means Kyle Reese and the T-800 aren't the only interested parties coming back from the future to destroy the past. It makes a lot of sense when thinking about things from Skynet's point of view, as a calculating intelligence wouldn't mind going back to the past and triggering Judgement Day a little early. World conquest is world conquest, no matter what decade it takes place in.
Terminator: Genisys looks like it's going to be, at the very least, an interesting look back at where the franchise came from; as well as a new lease on life for its future installments should they go ahead as proposed. With this much information being released at this point in time, it wouldn't be a surprise to get an official synopsis, a teaser trailer, or even some more details as to what Matt Smith's top secret roll is being revealed to us at any moment in the near future. Fingers crossed we land a scoop sooner than later!
Terminator: Genisys rewrites the course of franchise (and human) history on July 1, 2015; with two possible sequels mapped out for May 19, 2017 and June 29, 2018.
