“I’m Done”: Arnold Schwarzenegger Says He Won’t be Back for Future Terminator Movies

The Terminator franchise had failed to lift off once again with Dark Fate back in 2019, and we have no idea when the next movie will be coming back to theaters. You know who won’t be coming back, though? The OG T-800, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Schwarzenegger confirmed that while the Terminator franchise could still move forward, he is officially done. He explains:

“The franchise is not done. I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator. Someone has to come up with a great idea. The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly.”

As far as Terminator films go, the second movie is still considered to be the last ‘good’ Terminator film by fans. Schwarzenegger is still nice about all his other Terminator films, but he does admit that the last two weren’t up to snuff. He continues:

“The first three movies were great. Number four [Salvation] I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written.”

Despite all the criticism, I still think there is a lot to love with every entry. Salvation tried to change the formula by giving us a movie which only took place in the future, and GeniSys gave us that fantastic Old Arnold vs. Young Arnold. I also love the variation of Terminator we got in Dark Fate with Gabriel Luna.

We don’t know what the future holds in store for Terminator, but I think another director will have to take the reins; after all, James Cameron will be doing Avatar movies until he dies. You think District 9’s Neill Blomkamp would be into it?