James Cameron to Begin Writing a New Terminator Film After Avatar 3 Promotion Ends: When Sci-Fi Meets Reality
Director James Cameron is preparing to return to the Terminator franchise once marketing wraps for Avatar: Fire and Ash, but this time he faces an unusual obstacle: the future he once imagined has already caught up with the real world.
Speaking to Gizmodo, Cameron confirmed that he will devote significant time to writing the new film after the third Avatar entry releases on December 19. Holding his fingers a few inches apart, he said he already has “a stack of notes this thick,” adding that he plans to pour himself fully into the writing process.
The 71-year-old filmmaker, who redefined science fiction with 1984’s The Terminator and 1991’s Judgment Day, now finds the genre more challenging than ever. With artificial intelligence shifting from abstract fear to daily-life reality, he explains: “Science fiction has caught up and, in some ways, overwhelmed us. The problems that once existed only in stories are now part of our actual world.”
A Reimagined Beginning for the Franchise
Cameron intends to reboot the series from scratch, leaving behind many of the iconic elements that defined the past four decades. As he told Empire in September 2024, this marks “the moment when you jettison everything specific to the last 40 years of Terminator.” That means no return of Schwarzenegger’s T-800 or Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor.
Instead, the story will follow vulnerable, ordinary characters who receive no institutional support and must survive by relying on their own moral compass — all while confronting the threat of AI. “You start with powerless people fighting for their lives,” Cameron explained. “Then you throw artificial intelligence into the equation.”
The franchise has struggled in recent years. Terminator: Dark Fate earned just $261 million worldwide against a $185 million budget, losing over $120 million and halting future sequel plans.
Cameron admits he cannot match the predictive accuracy of his early work: “I’ll never be as prescient as I was in 1984,” he said. “Nobody knows what’ll happen in one or two years, but at the very least, I want to future-proof myself by staying a few years ahead.”
With writing expected to begin in early 2026, filming is unlikely to start before 2027, suggesting a release date no earlier than 2028.
