James Cameron, who has been busy making the Avatar sequels lately, is facing some major hurdles in attempting to get Terminator 7 started. While he is now committed to filming the Avatar sequels, it is now known that Cameron himself is writing the script for the seventh Terminator film. His history with the franchise is legendary, having directed both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which have become science fiction staples. Following these successes, Cameron distanced himself from the franchise, eventually returning as producer for the most recent offering, Terminator: Dark Fate.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Cameron talked about how he’s seen the science-fiction landscape evolve since the early Terminator films. He attributes this shift to the rapid development of real-world technology, saying it has changed a lot in just a few decades. Cameron said that, in a way, some of his earlier work in the genre may not have survived the changes brought about by technology, but some of its elements still hold up. Now he has to create a story for Terminator 7 that will resonate in today’s world, which is changing very quickly.
Cameron’s comments highlight the challenges of trying to write science fiction in an era in which reality often outpaces even the most vivid imagination. He continued, “People say, ‘Oh, it still holds up.’ I think that’s true of Terminator 2 qualitatively. I think Terminator 1 qualitatively has aged quite a bit, although story-wise it’s still very interesting. There’s some interest around the idea that it was a little bit predictive of some of the things that were happening, like the rise of AI, the potential existential threat of AI, which is changing our world before our eyes.”
He said it’s difficult to create a good story for Terminator 7 because today’s society already feels like science fiction. “We’re at a point right now where it’s becoming harder to write science fiction because we’re living in a science fiction world day in and day out.” He’s working on some themes he’d like to bring into a new Terminator film or possibly even a reboot of sorts of a larger story framework, which is difficult right now because he wants to explain the whole thing. It’ll be a ride that “we’ll probably be watching for the rest of human history, but certainly the next few years are going to be quite telling.”
Even beyond science fiction, other genres, particularly political drama and political satire, are increasingly drawing story inspiration from the real world. Scandal saw Shonda Rhimes remove stories from her already more intense ABC series due to them riffing too much on real-life events, while Prime Video’s The Boys has proven to be quite prescient on several occasions, arguably leading to its own success, given how intense the satire is.
Cameron knows that even if the technology in his films is outdated, there is something more fundamental, like an underlying theme and commentary, that promises to last a long time. It is precisely this that makes Terminator 2 so influential even today. As Cameron works to bring Terminator 7 to life, he will surely focus his attention on these timeless elements, ensuring that the film remains relevant to what is becoming obsolete very quickly with constant technological advancements. Although the Avatar franchise is going to keep him busy for many years to come, anticipation for Terminator 7 is growing as fans will want to see what new ideas Cameron brings to the series.
Also read: ‘Enjoy life’: James Cameron responds to criticism about 4K restorations of Aliens and True Lies
