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Variety reported on Wednesday that T4 is now scheduled for a 2005 production start. Seems like they want to go on with the franchise no matter if the "governator" is available or not. There's also a mention of Claire and Nick Stahl at the end, "Neither is believed to have been signed to an option agreement," but I think that's not correct. Didn't Claire mention somewhere in an interview recently that she's signed for at least one more Terminator movie?

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Michael Fleming, STAFF

"The Terminator" is coming back, but will Arnold Schwarzenegger?

After a year in the development shop, "Terminator 4" is ready to be mobilized for a 2005 production start. "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" scribes John Brancato and Michael Ferris have completed a draft of a script that was developed under the supervision of "T3" director Jonathan Mostow.

C2 partners Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna are returning as producers, and "T3" financier Intermedia, which has underwritten development so far, will begin the process of setting up the coin for the picture. Company topper Moritz Borman is expected to engage the studios and distributors that bankrolled "T3."

Mostow, who took over the "Terminator" franchise from James Cameron, is expected to next direct an untitled thriller he scripted for Paramount. Intermedia will open formal negotiations shortly for a deal that would make "T4" Mostow's next directing job.

Schwarzenegger's availability is the big question mark, since he's engaged as governor of California. Discussions have already occurred for him to return for an encore, but the likelihood is that it would be in a limited role. Sources said the expectation is that "T4" will break in a new terminator model.

Intermedia will be meeting soon with Warner Bros., which distributed the film domestically, and Sony Pictures, which bought most of the international rights. Both of those studios have an option to serve the same roles in the fourth film. The film worked out nicely for both studios: The $175 million-budgeted pic grossed around $430 million worldwide. Distributors in other territories like Japan-based Toha Towa, will also get first crack at a reprise.

"T4" hasn't been formally budgeted, but the next film isn't expected to cost as much as the last. For one thing, advances in f/x technology should make shots more economical. There is also the removal of a $30 million line expenditure, which was Schwarzenegger's record-breaking upfront salary for "T3."

There is no word on whether Nick Stahl or Claire Danes has yet been approached for returns. Neither is believed to have been signed to an option agreement.


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I hope not. It would make me want to cry to think that Claire would involve herself in what is so clearly a trainwreck of a movie project. The last one was dreadful, and it's a tragedy given the quality of the first two.

I believe that everyone is optioned for T4. Arnold has stated that he will not make a movie while serving as governor. Of course, being optioned doesn't mean that Claire will be in the movie. The filmmakers can change their minds on the cast.

Being a huge fan of both Claire and the Terminator franchise, I'm actually anxiously awaiting the sequel. If Claire doesn't reprise her role as Kate Brewster in the sequel, I'll be crushed. Sure, they *could* replace her, like they did with Eddie Furlong, but the difference there is that I don't think Eddie Furlong was well suited for his role in T2. Nick Stahl is much better suited for the role of John Conner, since, unlike Furlong (who looks nothing like his on-screen parents, Sarah Conner and Kyle Reese), Nick Stahl actually looks like he could have been Kyle Reese's son.

Anyone who's a fan of any cult film franchise knows that replacing an actor with another actor in a sequel is frowned upon. For instance, in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, when they replaced Patricia Arquette in Part 3 with Tuesday Knight in Part 4, it annoyed a lot of people (On a side note, both A Nightmare on Elm Street Parts 3 and 4 co-starred Ken Sagoes, who later had a small appearance on My So-Called Life. He played this parametic in "Other Peoples' Mothers", the one who says "Uh, miss Vallone? Miss Vallone? There's a policeman out there who needs to speak with you."). Anyway, this is turning into an off-topic ramble, so back to Claire and T4.

In the Terminator franchise, there are many models that exist. T2 featured the T-1000, T3 featured the T-X, and the original Terminator featured an abundance of different Terminator models in Kyle Reese's "future dream" scene. So, T4 can go on without Arnold quite easily, as the series would allow it. As long as Arnold has said "limited role", it should be enough to please fans. And if Terminator producer Mario Kesser's words have any truth, a proposed T5 would again star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the evil T-800 from Terminator 1.

Terminator is my favorite film franchise, and Claire Danes is my favorite actress. It is my dream that she will reprise her role in T4.

Hello all. I just went onto Countingdown.com and read through the news for Terminator 3 and found an interview she gave to the NY Post on December 13, 2002 that says that she is contracted to do Terminator 4.

http://countingdown.com/movies/1557/new ... id=2699129

The title of the article is: Claire Danes Talks about her role

I just found this article on Sci-Fi wire were Nick Stahl claims that neither he nor Claire Danes will appear in the next Terminator movie.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/inde ... 0&id=30319

That's must mean they are doing a story well into the future for Terminator 4.

Ok, apparently Claire and Nick aren't returning, and Arnold Schwarzenegger apparently isn't too thrilled with the 4th film, either. At this rate, Terminator 4 will contain no actors from the previous films... and that sounds like a travesty. The only people returning with any Terminator credentials are the director and one of the writers of Terminator 3. I enjoyed Terminator 3, but a big part of that was because I'm a Claire Danes fan and a Schwarzenegger fan. The direction and writing was nowhere near as great as James Cameron's Terminator films, and with the only retuning members being the director and writer... this doesn't sound too good.

IGN reports that "Terminator 4" will be the first movie of a new trilogy with a new main hero. The characters of John Connor and Kate Brewster will be in the movie, but it's not clear yet if Nick Stahl and Claire Danes will return to the franchise. The producers are targeting for a 2009 release date.