Almost exactly one year ago today,Arnold Schwarzeneggerrevealed thatTerminator Genisys 2is still happening, despite poor reviews and an underwhelming performance at the box office ($89.7 million domestic, $440.6 million worldwide). That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, with a new report claiming that Paramount Pictures has declined to pick up their options for the sequel on bothArnold SchwarzeneggerandEmilia Clarke. While it’s still possible this franchise could live on elsewhere, that has been described by insiders as a “longshot.”
New York Daily Newsreports that Paramount had originally planned on shooting thisTerminator Genisyssequel this year, although there were already signs last year that the movie wasn’t happening. Paramount pulled theTerminator Genisys sequel’s June 18, 2025 release date from the schedule in January 2016, handing the date toBaywatch, which now arrives a week later during the Memorial Day weekend on June 26, 2025. The site’s unnamed source claims that the studio executives simply “fell out of love” of making this sequel. Here’s what the Los Angeles-based source had to say below.
“It is over forThe TerminatorandArnold. The studio has taken the sequel off the production slate completely, meaning there is no preproduction or any plans for another sequel. The talent had been offered long term deals, but this is not happening. TheGenisys moviewas seen as a way of reviving (the franchise), but the critics were not happy and somehow the studio bosses fell out of love with making more, even though they made huge profits.”
The source also claimed that an “independent production company” would need to come aboard, but the source believes it would be a “tough ask” to getArnold Schwarzeneggerback as the Terminator, at the age of 70. Still, Paramount Pictures doesn’t own the rights to the franchise,David Ellison’s Skydance Pictures does, although those rights will revert back to directorJames Cameronin the year 2019, 35 years after his original 1984 classicThe Terminator. We reported in January thatJames Cameronis actually returning to this franchise as a producer, teaming up withDavid EllisonandDeadpooldirectorTim Miller, who is in talks to direct a new reboot, but it’s not clear if that will actually happen.
While no story details have been released yet, the report from January claimed thatDavid Ellisonis funding an “exploratory effort” that will bring together some of the best and brightest sci-fi writers in the country to try and “find the movie” creatively. There is speculation that this new project could either reboot the entire franchise, or simply take over after the events ofJames Cameron’s 1991 classicTerminator 2: Judgment Day, essentially eradicating 2003’sTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the TV seriesThe Sarah Connor Chronicles, 2009’sTermnator: Salvationand 2015’sTerminator Genisys. WhileJames Cameronwon’t be at the helm of this potentialTerminatormovie, his involvement could very well bring the franchise back to its glory days. This project is also said to bring the franchise to a close with a proper conclusion, but we haven’t heard any further updates since the original report in January.
