James Cameron, who has been quite busy making Avatar sequels of late, has run into some major obstacles while trying to get Terminator 7 off the ground. While he is now committed to making 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: he directed both The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which have become sci-fi classics. After these successes, Cameron retired from the franchise and eventually returned as a producer for the latest effort, Terminator: Dark Fate.
In a recent interview with The Guardian, Cameron spoke about how he feels the science fiction landscape has evolved since the early Terminator films. He attributes much of this change to the rapid development of real-world technology, saying it has changed a lot in just a couple of decades. Cameron said some of his previous work within the genre probably didn’t hold up to the changes brought about by technology, but elements of it still do. What he needs to do now is come up with a story for Terminator 7 that resonates in today’s world, which is changing at breakneck speed.
Cameron’s comments highlight the challenges of writing science fiction in an era where reality often outstrips even the most vivid imagination. He expressed himself further, saying, “People give the compliment, ‘Oh, it’s still relevant.’ I actually think that’s true of Terminator 2 in terms of quality. I think Terminator 1 is quite dated in terms of quality, although it’s still quite fascinating in terms of story. There’s some interest in the idea that it was a little bit prescient in certain things, like the emergence of AI, the potential existential threat of AI changing our world before our eyes.”
He said the reason it was difficult to come up with a good plot for Terminator 7 was because today’s society already lives in a world that feels very much like science fiction. “We’re at a point right now where it’s getting harder and harder to write science fiction because we live in a science fiction world every day.” He’s working on some themes that he wants to bring into a new Terminator film or maybe even some kind of reboot of a larger story framework, which is difficult right now because he wants to clear the smoke on the whole thing first. It’s going to be a journey that “we’ll probably be following for the rest of human history, but the next few years will certainly be quite eye-opening.”
Even outside of science fiction, other genres, particularly political drama and political satire, are increasingly finding inspiration in the real world. In Scandal, Shonda Rhimes famously had to cut storylines from her increasingly ambitious ABC series because they were too close to real-life events, while Prime Video’s The Boyson has proven to be quite prescient on several occasions, which arguably contributes to its own success considering how over-the-top the satire is.
Cameron knows that despite the outdated technology of his films, there is something more fundamental, like an underlying theme and commentary, that promises longevity. This is precisely what gives Terminator 2 a certain effectiveness even today. As Cameron works to bring Terminator 7 to life, he will surely turn his attention to these timeless elements, ensuring that the film remains relevant even if it is very quickly rendered obsolete by technological advances. Although the Avatar franchise will keep him busy for many years to come, anticipation for Terminator 7 is growing as fans are excited to see what new ideas Cameron will bring to the series.
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