Terminator Zero answers one of the biggest questions in the franchise

The Terminator franchise is returning for a new anime on Netflix, and the showrunner knew exactly where he wanted the project to focus, narratively.

Since The Terminator in 1984, the sci-fi movie franchise has revolved around two things: Skynet and the Connor family. They’re inextricably linked, since then-unborn John Connor would go on to lead the rebellion against artificial intelligence, so the terminators start a time war to stop him by attempting to assassinate his mother, Sarah.

Every new movie since then has involved the Connors and the machines. For upcoming anime Terminator Zero, showrunner Mattson Tomlin wanted to pivot elsewhere, answering a crucial question.

“I’m working with partners in Japan, and I wanted to lean into that strength, so it suddenly dawned on me, we don’t know what’s going on in Japan,” he told Polygon.

“Like, there’s no mention anywhere in the franchise about what’s going on really anywhere else in the world. OK, like, Russia launches their nukes, got it… But then what’s going on anywhere else in the world?”

It’s an avenue we haven’t seen from the franchise to date, whose stories have more-or-less always taken place in California, centered on Sarah and John Connor, telling a distinctly America-centric version of the plot. Zero focuses on a Japanese scientist instead, Malcolm Lee, who works for a Skynet rival.

He becomes subject to another frontier of the war across time as a terminator targets him, only for a savior from the future, Eiko, to arrive as his protector. It’s the same dynamic we’ve seen across the films, but deployed through another perspective in Skynet’s desire for survival stretching to rival tech firms.

Given the generally poor reception of the last two installments, Terminator: Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate, Zero could very well be exactly what the property needs. Skydance Television worked on it with PRoduction IG, the studio behind Haikyuu!! and numerous other of the best anime.

We’ll find out more when Terminator Zero arrives on August 29, 2024.