"Three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day..."
Despite decent reviews, the last Terminator movie, Dark Fate, was the latest instalment in the franchise to underperform at the box office, and it will probably be a very long time before we see the war against the machines continue on the big screen (though it's worth noting that James Cameron did recently reveal that he is planning to return to the franchise for a mysterious new project).
While the saga may be taking a (possibly permanent) break in live-action, a new 8-episode Netflix anime series titled Terminator Zero is now streaming.
The project takes the classic sci-fi franchise in a completely new direction by moving the story to Tokyo, Japan, and, for the first time, shifting away from Sarah and John Connor, who have (together or separately) featured in all previous Terminator movies.
It's unusual for the streamer to debut new content on a Thursday, but August 29 is Judgment Day, after all!
The first reviews are now in, and while a few critics weren't completely won over by the anime, the majority were full of praise for what sounds like an intriguing new take on the story.
Terminator: Zero is currently sitting at a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 14 reviews.
Showrunner and executive producer Mattson Tomlin (The Batman - Part II) recently explained the decision to switch focus to a whole new set of characters.
“I think that it’s time to go into new characters and not burden myself with another John and Sarah Connor saga. There's been a run at that a couple of different times," Tomlin says. "There are a lot of callbacks to the other films. Fans who really know the movies are going to be doing the Leo meme from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but it's not going to be as direct as John Connor walks in, because John Connor does not walk in."
Tomlin does make it clear that the show will not be a complete reboot, however.“We're not going to pretend that the third movie didn't happen. We're not going to pretend that the sixth movie didn't happen.”
The official synopsis reads:
“2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity. Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.”