At the end of 2013, "Thor" and "X-Men: First Class" writers Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller were hired to write a new "Terminator" TV series that had an ambitious concept. It would "follow a critical moment from the first Terminator film (1984) and, where the film’s story goes one way, the upcoming series will take the same moment in a completely different direction. As the rebooted film trilogy and the new TV series progress, the two narratives will intersect with each other in some surprising and dramatic ways."
Well, "Terminator Genisys" is due in cinemas next week, with planned release dates pegged for the sequels (though one wonders how confident Paramount is feeling given the rather muted excitement for the reboot), but nothing has been heard about that TV show. Well, it’s still happening, and the plans are still big.
"It’s something that we’re developing as we speak," producer David Ellison told Collider, and he confirms the series will have a world building aspect to it.
"[It’s] a little premature to be able to say, but I will say anything we do along those lines, it will absolutely have connective tissue," he said. "It would be a mistake and a little old-fashioned to have a television show and a movie, both based on something that actually don’t cross over in any way, shape, or form."
However, if you think Ellison and company are just jumping on the latest trend of connected stories across a variety of mediums, producer Dana Goldberg stresses that narrative is king. "Here’s the thing: at the end of the day, everything we do at Skydance is going to come back to one thing and one thing only, and that’s story," she said. "It always starts with story. I had a few people as I was coming up in the business who when you asked what’s the key to Hollywood, they would say ‘don’t be stupid, it’s just the story.’ It’s where everything else starts, it’s the thing you layer everything else on top of…"
The aim right now is for the show to land on cable rather than on network TV, though Ellison and Goldberg are open to whatever winds up being the best fit. But maybe the best fit is just letting this franchise rest a bit?
"Terminator Genisys" opens on July 1st.
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