Terminator 4 Plot Update from James Middleton

For some reason, Sarah Connor Chronicles producer James Middleton seems to really know a lot about what’s happening with the upcoming Terminator franchise from The Halcyon Company. Which is good news for us, because he reveals quite a bit. Here’s what he says via the folks over at IGN…

Middleton informed us that T4 is happening with The Halcyon Company, who owns the franchise rights. It will be written by Michael Ferris and John D. Brancato, the same team that wrote Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Halcyon would like to be in pre-production in October with an eye towards a 2009 release.

No director is signed yet, but they are close, according to Middleton. He added that the sequel will not be called Terminator 4, but instead will use the title Terminator and have some sort of subtitle, as in Rise of the Machines.

It will follow the events of T3 and be post-apocalyptic. It’s not known whether Nick Stahl and Claire Danes will return, but John Connor and Kate Brewster are in the script. Middleton said the participation of Stahl and Danes would depend on many factors, including the thoughts of the eventual director and others involved. Also, while John and Kate are part of the story, the movie will feature a new hero as the main character. Middleton likened it to how “Ben-Hur was influenced by Jesus Christ, but it was his story. Much in that way, this character will be influenced by John Connor.”

The plan is for this to be the first of three new movies, all of them set in this post-apocalyptic future and showing the war with the machines.

I really like Nick Stahl and Claire Danes in part 3, but from the sounds of it, they really have no interest in coming back, especially Claire Danes if this MTV article was any indication. But I would really love to see both Stahl and Danes back in T4 and its post-apocalyptic setting.

Although I’m not all that hype about T4 creating a new hero that isn’t named John Connor…

(via)