Patrick Lee over at SCI FI Wire dropped us a line directing us to a new interview he conducted with James Middleton, an associate producer on the upcoming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, or better described as Terminator 4.
The first rumor that was squashed was whether or not California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would be in the film or either of the two subsequent sequels should they happen. Word on that was a big fat no, so from now on ignore any and all erroneous rumors stating otherwise.
The other rumor he discussed was the level of John Connor’s involvement in the fourth film, which is said to be the kick start of a brand new Terminator trilogy. Up until now word was that Connor would be playing a smaller role as a new hero of which Connor looked up to would rise. While the new hero idea is true apparently Connor’s part in the film will be a little larger than earlier rumored.
“I would look at him as a character that is introduced and that will grow in the second and third movies of the trilogy,” Middleton said. “It’s set after the events of [Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines], where we see the nuclear exchange at the end of the movie, and we show what the world is like after this event, and we show how people try to deal in a post-apocalyptic world, and we introduce a new character, who becomes very important to the resistance and to John Connor, a new hero. It’s really about the birth of a new hero.”
Word around the Net was that Christian Bale had secured the role of John Connor, but apparently that is yet to be a done deal.
As of right now pre-production is underway with the unlikely director, McG, set to helm. Hope is that the writers’ strike ends soon so a script rewrite can get underway.
Of course the big question now is who the new character will actually be. Word is that it won’t be the speculated Kyle Reese, the character from the first film who was played by Michael Biehn and who goes on to father John Connor. So that is still up in the air.