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Terminator Zero Reflects Schwarzenegger Film's "Serial Killer" Vibe

Along with new images, Terminator Zero showrunner Mattson Tomlin shared how the series reflects the original 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger film.

Netflix and showrunner, writer, and EP Mattson Tomlin's (Project Power, The Batman II) Terminator Zero made its presence known earlier today during Anime Expo 2024. Directed by Masashi Kudo, executive produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg & Don Granger for Skydance, and animated by Production IG (Ghost in the Shell), the eight-episode animated series is set within the "Terminator" universe that viewers have come to know but will focus on a new cast of characters. During this weekend's session, Tomlin touched upon how the series will reflect the "serial killer" aspects of the original 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring film, leaning hard on the horror aspects of having a relentless killing machine whose only machine is to kill. As for a potential spoiler, Tomlin had this to drop: "OK. Robot cat." Along with Tmlin's insights, we also have some new preview images…

Netflix's Terminator Zero stars Olyphant, Rosario Dawson (Ahsoka, Common Ground) as Kokoro, André Holland (Moonlight, The Knick) as Malcolm Lee, Sonoya Mizuno (House of the Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians) as Eiko, and Ann Dowd (The Handmaid's Tale, MASS) as The Prophet. Here's a look at the latest image gallery that was released earlier today, followed by character overviews, a key art poster and series logline, and more from the creative team:

An advanced AI and Japan's answer to Skynet, if brought online, Kokoro (Dawson) will be endowed with the same power as Skynet. Kokoro must calculate for itself: Is humanity the plague Skynet believes it to be? Or are human beings worth saving? A genius computer programmer and father of three, Malcolm Lee (Holland) is haunted by prophetic nightmares of an apocalyptic future. He's spent the last decade creating a secret artificial intelligence that he believes will be humanity's last hope. Coming from a post-Judgment Day 2022, Eiko (Mizuno) is a resistance fighter sent back in time to stop Malcolm from launching Kokoro. In the future, The Prophet (Dowd) is the philosophical guide for the human resistance, a light shepherding survivors in the darkness of the unknown future ahead.

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.

"I wanted to lean into that body-horror, serial-killer feel of the first film, which was almost like 'Friday The 13th' or 'A Nightmare On Elm Street," Tomlin shared during a recent interview with Empire. "The series also incorporates J-Horror [Japanese horror] elements," added Director Masashi Kudō. "[We] focused on emphasizing darkness and determining what to show and what to leave unseen." As for two of the major players in the animated series, Tomlin had some interesting insights to pass along. "He's not handsome; he's a little cross-eyed. Very spooky. Someone you do not want to meet down a dark alley," Tomlin shared about the look of Olyphant's killing machine. In terms of Mizuno's Eiko, Tomlin shares which popular character from the franchise served as the model for the character – and teases that viewers should keep a close eye on her motivations. "The model for Eiko was Kyle Reese. Her motives are grey at first. But she's hiding something meaningful, and when it's revealed, it will hit audiences like a fucking two-by-four."

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