Terminator: Genisys was was designed as as the first instalment in a planned trilogy – and now we learn what direction the story was going to take.
It’s fair to say that Terminator: Genisys is not regarded as the most beloved entry in the Terminator series. Like Salvation before it, and Dark Fate following it, the film was designed to kickstart the franchise once more into the kind of sequel-spawning saga that made the earlier films such box-office behemoths.
Of course, it didn’t go to plan, with a spoiler-filled trailer in particular, doing little to help the film’s chances. Along with what, we could charitably describe as an ‘interesting’ title, didn’t help Genisys’ chances much either. Critical reviews were poor and although overseas sales pushed it to $440 million, the film’s lacklustre reception ended hopes for a follow-up.
Now, thanks to Dark Horizons, we’ve learned a little bit more about what those planned sequels might have looked like.
The film’s co-writer, Patrick Lussier has been chatting to the Production Meeting Podcast about the direction the slated trilogy of films was planning to take, stating ‘They dealt more with how the future and where Skynet comes from and what that sort of time loop is. You know, the Matt Smith character. It became much more of a focus, so they were probably a little trippier and stood away from ‘T2’ a little more. Started having their own identity.
There’s sort of an interesting escaping the fatalistic part of it, how it opened was very cool… who knows? Maybe one day they’ll release it as a comic or something.’
As recently as 2018, Dark Horse still owned the rights to publish Terminator stories in comic book form, so perhaps we will eventually see the Genisys story unfold in that medium.
The comment about ‘having their own identity’ is interesting too, as it’s been argued both here and elsewhere that the one of the franchise’s main problems is how beholden it is to the successful formula of the original films. Perhaps developing its own identity is the only way for a fresh Terminator series to flourish.
As it stands though, with 2019’s Dark Fate also suffering a similar ahem, dark fate as Genisys, the series looks set to lie dormant for a while.
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