James Cameron struggling to write new Terminator film

James Cameron is struggling to write a new Terminator film because we’re “living in a science fiction age”.

The 71-year-old filmmaker – who has also been working on the ongoing Avatar franchise – confirmed last year he was pushing on with a new Terminator movie, but he’s “having a hard time writing science fiction right now”.

Appearing on celebrity.land, he explained: “I’m tasked with writing a new Terminator story.

“I’ve been unable to get started on that very far because I don’t know what to say that won’t be overtaken by real events.

“We are living in a science fiction age right now.”

The original Terminator – which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton – was released in 1984, and is still regarded as one of the grwaetest sci-fi films of all time.

In October 2024, Cameron confirmed the future of the franchise was something being actively worked on.

He told Empire magazine: “It’s more than a plan. That’s what we’re doing. That’s all I’ll say for right now.”

Cameron – who remains busy working on the Avatar series – admitted the future of Terminator relies on telling new and different kinds of stories.

He said: “You get too inside it, and then you lose a new audience because the new audience care much less about that stuff than you think they do.

“That’s the danger, obviously, with Avatar as well, but I think we’ve proven that we have something for new audiences.

“You’ve got powerless main characters, essentially, fighting for their lives, who get no support from existing power structures, and have to circumvent them but somehow maintain a moral compass. And then you throw AI into the mix.

“Those principles are sound principles for storytelling today, right? So I have no doubt that subsequent Terminator films will not only be possible, but they’ll kick a**. But this is the moment where you jettison all the specific iconography.”

In the past, Cameron has described some parts of the Terminator franchise as “pretty cringeworthy”.

He told the same outlet: “I don’t think of it as some Holy Grail, that’s for sure. I look at it now and there are parts of it that are pretty cringeworthy, and parts of it that are like, ‘Yeah, we did pretty well for the resources we had available.’

”Just the production value, you know? I don’t cringe on any of the dialogue, but I have a lower cringe factor than, apparently, a lot of people do around the dialogue that I write.

“You know what? Let me see your three-out-of-the-four-highest-grossing films – then we’ll talk about dialogue effectiveness.”