The Terminator Franchise Faces One Big Challenge for James Cameron's Latest Installment

James Cameron is currently working on the next installment in the Terminator franchise, despite the lukewarm reception of the most recent film, Terminator: Dark Fate. The film attempted to revive the series with the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, but failed to generate sufficient box office revenue. Schwarzenegger himself has publicly declared that he is finished with the franchise. Nevertheless, Cameron has confirmed that he is writing Terminator 7. However, the filmmaker has encountered a major roadblock: he wants to wait and see how real-world AI develops before continuing with the project. Three months ago, he started writing the script, but has since paused his work due to this uncertainty.

Terminator 7 Will Focus More On AI Than Cyborgs

AI has always played a crucial role in the Terminator franchise, thanks to Skynet - the self-aware, super-intelligent system that serves as the series’ true villain. However, previous films have largely kept Skynet in the background, choosing instead to focus on the cyborg assassins it sends back in time to alter history. This will change with Terminator 7, as James Cameron has revealed that the new movie will center more on the AI itself. Speaking on the Smartless podcast in 2022, Cameron said, “If I were to do another ‘Terminator’ film and maybe try to relaunch the franchise again...I would make it much more about the AI side of it than bad robots gone crazy.”

However, since Cameron’s comments just a few months ago, AI technology has rapidly advanced, causing even the acclaimed director to pause his writing process in order to stay up to date. With AI progress showing no signs of slowing, it begs the question of whether Cameron will ever be able to keep up enough to write a Terminator 7 script that won’t quickly become obsolete. This dilemma is not unique to Cameron, as all sci-fi writers in 2023 face the same challenge - technology is advancing so rapidly that even the most creative and imaginative minds struggle to keep pace. This new reality is perhaps more terrifying than any rogue robot scenario previously imagined.

Source: @rcmercado/Twitter