Sam Worthington will star in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, reports Variety.
The fact the Australian actor just played the lead in the James Cameron-directed Avatar is no coincidence, added the trade. Cameron recommended Worthington to “Terminator Salvation” director McG, indicating that the director of the first two “Terminator” installments might be warming to the new pic.
Worthington will play the role of Marcus, a central figure in a three-picture arc that begins after Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust. A group of survivors led by John Connor (Christian Bale) struggles to keep the machines from finishing the job.
Variety says McG spoke on the phone recently with Cameron, who is in New Zealand working on Avatar. It was during that chat that he recommended Worthington, who in Avatar plays a paraplegic war veteran from Earth who’s brought to another planet inhabited by a race of humanoids at odds with Earth’s inhabitants.
“Terminator Salvation” is targeting a summer 2009 release.
