Arnold Schwarzenegger credits “The Terminator” franchise as a huge turning point in his career but after appearances in several films, he says he’s done making those movies…
Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t be back for another film in “The Terminator” franchise.
After he first appeared as the menacing cyborg assassin in the original film from director James Cameron back in 1984 before eventually returning for four more sequels and reboots, the now 75-year-old actor says he’s put “The Terminator” behind him for good.
While he certainly understands that the franchise will move forward with more films, Schwarzenegger admits that his time has past when it comes to any potential appearances in future sequels.
“The franchise is not done. I’m done,” Schwarzenegger told The Hollywood Reporter. “I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator.
“Someone has to come up with a great idea. The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly.”
As much as he loved “The Terminator” films, which is part of the reason why he always returned for the various sequels, Schwarzenegger says the past two films in the franchise just didn’t deliver.
“The first three movies were great,” Schwarzenegger said. “Number four [Salvation] I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written.”
Critics and audiences definitely agreed with Schwarzenegger because neither “Terminator: Genisys,” which was pitched as a potential restart to the franchise, as well as “Terminator: Dark Fate” that reunited him with Linda Hamilton, didn’t perform well.
There’s no word yet on when another film in “The Terminator” franchise might come along — it’s inevitable to happen — but when that day comes, Schwarzenegger will not be involved.
While he’s fired his last grenade as “The Terminator,” Schwarzenegger still has one other franchise from his past that he would love to revisit as Conan The Barbarian.
“[‘The Legend of Conan’ has] been pending for the last 10 years,” Schwarzenegger said. “[Fredrik] Malmberg owns the rights. He comes to me and says, “Oh, I have a deal with Netflix,” and when we ask Netflix, they don’t know anything about it. It’s one of those crazy things. I hope he figures it out. I think you do it like Unforgiven, where you play the age.
“There’s a great script out there that John Milius wrote, and others have written one. The story is there. There are directors who want to do it. But he has the rights, and until he sells the rights for one or two movies, or for the franchise, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Next up for Schwarzenegger will be a Netflix original series called “FUBAR” that’s due out on May 25.
