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McG Already Leaking Early Story Details on Terminator 5?

by Alex Billington
May 4, 2009
Source: Film Journal

You'd think that with his highly anticipated reboot of a beloved franchise due out in theaters in just a few more weeks and showing for the first time to press in LA later this week (myself included), that McG might want to focus solely on the movie at hand and leave out sequel speculation for a future time and date. But nope, he's already talking about Terminator 5, for better or worse. McG was interviewed by Film Journal (via The Playlist) last week and after talking about Terminator Salvation, he revealed some very interesting story ideas for the sequel, which was already officially announced by Halcyon in December last year.

We'll just let McG explain, because I don't need to waste time introducing story details we all know. In fact, you'll see the setup on May 21st, when Terminator Salvation hits theaters. Here's what he had to say:

"I strongly suspect the next movie is going to take place in a [pre-Judgment Day] 2011," McG reveals. "John Connor is going to travel back in time and he's going to have to galvanize the militaries of the world for an impending SkyNet invasion."

"They've figured out time travel to the degree where they can send more than one naked entity. So you're going to have hunter killers and transports and harvesters and everything arriving in our time and Connor fighting back with conventional military warfare, which I think is going to be fucking awesome. I also think he's going to meet a scientist that's going to look a lot like present-day Robert Patrick [who famously played the T-1000 in Terminator 2], talking about stem-cell research and how we can all live as idealized, younger versions of ourselves."

Nice F-bomb, McG. That does sound pretty awesome, no doubt. But after Terminator Salvation, won't we want to see the storyline set in 2018 continue? Or is there some mystery ending where everyone dies that we don't know about yet? This isn't the first time McG has dropped hints about Robert Patrick - he previously expressed interest in him via some interviews back in March. As for the new storyline he mentions, however, this is the first time I've heard of it. It's hard to say much without having seen Salvation, but my first thought is that it won't matter if it's 2011, because the world was destroyed by that time anyway, right?

Here's the thing, what I'm actually most excited for with Terminator Salvation (on top of some kick ass action) are the possibilities that it will open up in terms of exploring the Terminator concept and timeline in depth. For example, the idea about time travel and sending different machines/humans from different times back and forth is quite confusing and exciting at the same time. I'd love to see this explored further, but at the same time, I'm fond of the futuristic setting and don't want to see a sequel set before 2018. Let's hope that McG's idea is only early speculation and not the actual storyline the writers have come up with.

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marc

That sounds like a very baaaaaaaaaaaad idea! I think i rather blow my brains out then see a pre-judgement day storyline...again! Damn MCG! I bet its bullshit.
craig

the past has been done already!! time for the FUCKING future!! accept it!!
A Big T Fan.

If this is true, I'm gonna fucking kill this asshole. Sending HK's, Harvesters and other machines back to the past...you see what's happening? We'll have another, rather literal, Transformers on our hands. Besides, this story is riddled with inconsistencies. Firstly, you would have to graft flesh onto the HKs, Harvesters and any other machine you'll send through, because, "nothing dead will go." Secondly, Connor will not be able to lead the resistance to victory and send Kyle Reese back through time in 2029. Third, Skynet only began building the TDE because it knew it was losing the battle, and in a last-ditch effort, sent Infiltrators back to the past to kill Connor. That was the whole purpose of the TDE. And fourth, it's just a crap idea. There is absolutely no point for this plotline. ADVANCE the series. Stick to what Cameron laid out, then just build upon it and progress. I'm gonna trash his lights.
T-McG

I am not programmed to feel. I am a McG.
Farris

It would be a good idea if both the present and the future were settings in the movies. Like the fate of everyone relies on the humans succeeding in both settings. Kind of hard to explain. But I don't think anyone else wants to see anymore Terminator movies set in the past.
UCB

Warner Bros. official plot synopsis for Terminator Salvation contradicts with this idea, because it states that Judgment Day happened long before 2011 (14 years before 2018). Also, Bale stated in a recent interview that one of the main reasons he signed on was because the movies would be set in the future, and not in the present like the first three.
bassbin

mcG, stick to the charlies angels franchise. hack.
Matt Suhu

This is just dumb...he's probably just playing around.
Tom W

this seems like a really cool plot which they could build on from future movies
Dar-El

Im not interested in seeing another Terminator movie set in the past and I don’t give a damn what they send through to that timeline. Let’s hope he remembers the agreement he made with Bale for I don’t think he would hesitate to quit the movies if he didn’t keep to his word.
aaron

Is this the plot for the next Back to the Future or the next Terminator he's talking about? I'm confused.
tom rothman

WTF? come over to FOX, ill hire... i do have some potential franchises more to ruin!
THE TRUTH

dfsgsgfsg
JimD

Id rather he stick to the current time line. All this time travel crap is getting over done and writers are getting lazy with their plots because of it. James Cameron would use time travel becuase it fits within the plot. McG would do it just so he could throw harversters and all else from the future intp the past so he could have some big battle versus tanks and artillery guns. Say no to cheesy.
Fuelbot

Doesn't Terminator 3 kind of fuck up the continuity by having the impending judgement day be something he can't stop?
Anastasios-Antonios Toulkeridis

I've been a HUGE fan of the terminator mythology since 1984. I have ideas for two sequels that both take place in the future. We're talking about really cool stuff made by a fan to satisfy fans. Especially the second plot is set in the very distant future and incorporates some really exotic TNG-like technologies. I've contacted the Halcyon company, but they are not interested in the ideas of someone who's doing PhD research in Artificial Intelligence ("me"). They want to bring back a DJ whose best work is Charlies Angels.
LINKFX

PLEASE STICK WITH THE APOCALYPSE WAR STORYLINE. STOP GOING BACK IN TIME IDEA YOU F*CKING STUPID BASTARD! I HATE YOU MCG, I HATE YOU!!!! DAMN YOU TO HELL IF YOU GO BACK IN TIME TO OUR PRESENT DAY? LET JONATHAN NOLAN MAKE UP THE STORY YOU LITTLE B*TCH! Sorry guys, that news really pissed me off.
Dan

Oh Please, please Jimmy Cameron - oh please - why has thee forsaken us???? PLEASE COME BACK - re-bless us with your other worldly extreme visionary......... Wake me when its over!
SOUNDWAVE

Terminator.. INFERIOR!! Transformers.. SUPERIOR!!
The Delightful Deviant

enough with the modern times! we had 3 freaking movies all taking place in modern time telling us about this big bad future! let us see what happens in this big bad future! i hate time travel! unless of course it's with Doc Brown and Marty Mcfly.
Hey Ya

Seriously? It's kind of been done with 3 we John fought early versions. This is crap. Die McG, just die. Go find your buddy McDonald and die!!! lol
Nikhil Hariharan

#20, hahaha thats just great. I really wish there would have been another back to the future film in the franchise, i miss it. Which reminds me, i fell for the April Fools joke that Steven Speilberg was bringing back the franchise.... Whatever, i just want to see the new film so badly, if its better than i thought than ill give him a chance, until then im just going to wait to see how the new film does.
Mickey Rourke

The comeback kid!
Scott McHenry

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO TIME TRAVEL PLEASE!!!
Cody

Gonna see how he handles this term film before I care about another. I mean his term may totally blow balls and then I would lose all care for the franchise.
Pierce Brosnan

No, No, No! No more time-travel. Take me to the future.
Darrin

after the transformers 2 second trailer came out, i think everyone figured out that mcg lost
xerxex

Yeah no, McG you're teetering on the boundries of awesome and suck, so this idead for T5 is not good! Maybe one day people in Hollywerid will listen to the peopel who pay to see good movies!!!!!!!!!! Very doubtful sadly.
xerxex

I think this is the side affects of Bighead syndrome. I want to see McG do good I really do, but this is a mistake, we've waited patiently to see the future after Skynet let us SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Ya

We have waited for so long for a movie that was just the beginning of T2, being in the future and all that jazz. Even this doesn't touch where that was as Connor was already well in the war and this is the start. Let's continue to the future shall we and forget the past. The premise of T3 was that it cannot be stopped, so GET THE FUCK OVER IT MCG!!!
Cody

Like Darrin said after I saw that giant ass building sized robot sucking shit up, Bay already has it in bad in terms of box office...and probably the awesomeness department too. Also wasnt McG the one who started the stupid little publicity stunt anyway?
Brett Anderson

MCG i accept the almost human thing but t3 didn't give you the right the fuck it up more. t3 suck... t-800 and only the t-800 should of went to attack john no fake ass huge boob tx bitch OK. and your were fine with the big robots because in terminator 1 they had them, but sending them to the past come on what the fuck... im telling you guys this ending better be fucking amazing. And let me help you just a MCG little. If you must go back to 2011 on this terminator time line make it where john fucks up the timing grid where one human or t-800 size can back in time OK.. if you can do that at least do that people Might be a little more happy.. oh and maybe read some the of these forms I have watch all three (yes even the 3rd one) like 4,000,000 times. I promise we know terminator better then u. Maybe make a website called im MCG and im terminator retarded. Oh and by the way if u where the one that let out the ending of terminator salvation smart work because.. if that was going 2 be the final ending i would kick ur ass and James should tackle ur ass and stop being a retard and dick wars with Michael Bay. Let Michael play with his semi trucks... seriously people he has a semi in every movie he has made.. i least i think he does I give credit you remember that t-600 had rubber skin now if u miss that one i may had to laugh. and guys that think terminator suck without Arnold.. think of it this way if all skin covered terminator look like Arnold the resistance would spot them easier... i say this because knowing that Arnold was gov i knew their wouldn't be much of him, but i will say this they better have him or computer Arnold for when the good and bad ones go back in time and t-1000 the creator working stem-cell i def like that idea that is perfect. And please do not change the date t3 gave for judgment day when nuclear warhead attack everywhere please... it really piss me off when they said john was 13 when he was 10 on t2 PLEASE!
Last Son

I think it is bad idea going back in time again. After T2 had finished I had wished that they would move onto the future wars and be done with the whole time travel stuff, but T3 came out and it was a carbon copy of T2. Now with Terminator Salavation apon us I'm glad that we are now in the future war part, but now Mcg wants to have the 5th film go back in time again. Enough already!.
Chris I

All you guys need to relax, this just sounds like a smoke screen (at least I hope it is). My understanding of the new Terminator film and subsequent sequels was that they had come up with a story for a new trilogy and all three films would be set in the future.
Chris i

McG also shows here if this idea is true he doesn't know the mythology of Terminator. In T1 Kyle Reese in the police station interrogation scene clearly says... 'something about the field genereated by a living organism, nothing dead will go..." Hunter Killer flying machines, tanks and harvesters are all metal, so they won't go through the time field. This was one of the things that always bothered me about T2 & T3. The T1000 is completely liquid metal and the TX has a liquid metal exterior. The liquid metal only mimicks the appearance of flesh, hair etc. It doesn't actually become flesh. So how does it go through the time displacement field if the field is only generated by a living organism. I do remember in T2 the T1000 has all that steam coming off it as it comes through the time field. Maybe it gets coated in a living organism 'gel' first, to act like a conductor, then when it goes through, the process burns it all off.
terminatorfanfanfan

When i saw the t4 i said that: okay!!! In an other form but the terminator film is back after the T3 what was a big.......! So If there is a god in the sky, than he will not let this t5 idea out.... Mcg wake up...! After a good movie you want to make the fans dissapointed... Don't do that,,, right guyz? One of the bad ideas that Connor will travel back in time and robots also...Hk-s and other machines....:S Just... go on with the story forward and not back....present days....Fans want to see the future and that story line where Connor stay alive and leading the humans...and without time travel ! I think everyone is beging and praying : this idea what McG said must be terminated and write a normal idea of the film : for example a lot of fan want to see the infiltrator units and the speacial infiltrating things and the birth of t-1000... but in the future....also the plasma guns...and etc...
Steve

35 McG also shows here if this idea is true he doesn't know the mythology of Terminator. In T1 Kyle Reese in the police station interrogation scene clearly says… 'something about the field genereated by a living organism, nothing dead will go…" Cameron stuffed this one up in T2 with the T-1000!
George

Terminator: Salvation: It has enough pace and excitement to keep action fans switched on, This is Sam Worthington's movie, and he steals it, decent action film, far superior to the awful Terminator 3. Despite some laughably silly plot elements, McG has created an overall entertaining movie experience. Being a rabid fan that grew up on the franchise created by James Cameron, the idea of McG getting behind the camera for this sequel was slightly nauseating, and yet, by some miracle, the fourth film in the franchise is (barely) passable.
Vizier

can i post a suggestion for the story! if so pls reply on my id one of the suggestions are directors normally try to do something different in the 5th sequil! just like the harry potter 5. changing directors lol! Tseries is nice keep it that way! just need more human action!!!!! one of the things i would like to say is i have a nice script for T5 if you are interested that is lol!
Josh

NO!! I wish somebody powerful would just ask me please "what can we do to (if we want to make another Terminator Movie) what can I as a director do? How will my story be? Listen. Enough!! We don't need anymore surprises, because T3 already surprised us enough!! WE THE FANS KNOW WHAT THE STORY IS!! WE JUST NEED TO SEE IT VISUALLY!! To be honest I already have a plan I can make my own script, and still follow the story! What I would do is this!! (LOL my idea for the T5) The year is 2026. Skynet is developing new and special ways to destroy us. John Conner blew up the computer factory in San Fransisco after encountering the t-800 prototype. Which wasn't at all very important considering the fact that the prototype failed. Kyle Reese has grown up, John Conner's children had grown up. To develop into the most advance tech com unit! Now since we rushed to see the t-600's and the unstoppable t-800, we cannot really show too much of the t-400s. But since t-800 was the prototype, SkyNet has to learn from its mistakes right? So we have learned that Marcus Wright has defeated the t-800. SkyNet needs something of more a human R&D project and to actually gives these cyborgs like a more serious control over them. Kinda like "The Terminator: Dawn of Fate game." Now 2027 hits, we can actually see the more serious development the T-800 (we see how the skynet software for the T-800 was actually intended to travel back in time in T1. example the search and destroy tracker system when in T1 after the club shooting scene, when the Terminator was chasing Kylie and Sarah) That part I got ahead, but humans will be turned into a cyborg type thingy, and they will be simulated on the field by skynet. that when hit or killed they will just turn into liquid. (the future development of the T-1000 and TX) Lol see!! After this is all said and done, we will forget seeing T3 and just continue after T2. (because we were actually forced to continue with more Terminator Movies after the chip and the arm, and Cyberdyne and Dyson were all destroyed, but somehow things would eventually be surfaced and we will see that it relates to the first two films of the Terminator. I would def. at the end have skynet perfect cold fusion in order to have a successful time travel!! I would put Arnold in there as the finalized T-800 prototype (the same as the first Terminator in T1, actually the exact). Robert Patrick as the revived liquid simulated solders (200 cybernetic liquid simulated solders, not exactly terminators) Christian Bale as John Conner the leader of the resistance, Tech-Com, not as a solder though. Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, being more protected so John Conner can save him to go back to 1984. (sort of like a secret weapon) I want everything to be as though as it was in the first terminator movie. Plus with Reese, in Salvation he was the prime target, so it will fall right into place, we will not alter no future!! I'm not a University of Pittsburgh student with a major in the sciences for nothing!!! NO FUTURE ALTERS, NO TIMELINES, NO PROTECTING TERMINATORS. JUST THE RESISTANCE AND THE NEW SCI-TECH TEAM!!
joey

taking john conner back in time to 2011 when it happen in 2003 what every thing just turn around and now 2011 is when it happens this is fucking dumb ill tell u guys right now u come out with that movie with that gay story im not going to wach it and im sure nobody eles will ether if there a big terminator fan YOU GOT ALOT OF PISSED OFF FANS ON HERE AND I MEAN ALOT YOUR NOT GOING TO MAKE NO MONEY ON THIS GAY STORY YOUR MAKING. SO DONT MAKE IT OR CHONGE THE STORY TO WHAT EVERY BODY WANTS TO SEE WHICHS THATS THE FUTURE WAR NOT GOING THOURGH TIME THIS NOTE IS TO MCG JUST TRYING TO HELP
Machines,Transformers?

tacos?
Spencer

The next movie has to be a continuation from Terminator Salvation !!!!!!!!!! Yes I know Skynet is smashed but they have not sent the T - 800 back in time to kill Sara Conner as the Resistance does with Kyle Reese. The story line of the previous movies would be lost and massively contradicted if it was written along another path. The war against the machines is the key to the next movies story line, it has to continue to the point where Conner and Reese find the time machine to send Reese back to protect Sara Conner. Story complete !!!!!!!!!!