If 2024’s unexpectedly great Terminator Zero proved anything, it is that all the Terminator sequels to date have made the same shared mistake that Terminator 7 must avoid. The Terminator timeline is a confusing mess, primarily because every new sequel in the series has attempted to reboot its story. Although Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation share a relatively clear chronology, both 2015’s Terminator: Genisys and 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate invented entirely new timelines so they could tell different, semi-related stories without needing to untangle the existing lore of the series.

While Terminator 7’s big challenge seems to be replacing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s iconic T-800, this is actually the least of the franchise’s worries. The critical acclaim and fan adulation received by 2008’s TV spinoff The Sarah Connor Chronicles provided early evidence that the series could simply drop Schwarzenegger’s T-800 and, if the plot was sufficiently engaging and original, no one would notice. Instead, the biggest challenge for Terminator 7 is finding an original angle to revisit the franchise, and 2024’s Terminator Zero exposed the perfect approach.

Terminator 7 Should Be Animated, Not Live-Action

Terminator Zero’s Success Proves The Franchise Can Succeed In The Medium

The next Terminator movie must be animated instead of live-action, and the success of 2024’s Netflix anime reboot Terminator Zero proves this. Since 1990’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the franchise has failed to produce a single great live-action movie sequel. Even before the timeline became interminably convoluted, both Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation were desperately disappointing compared to director James Cameron’s first two Terminator movies. No one can seem to crack a good live-action sequel, so experimenting with animation makes perfect sense.

The exciting upcoming Predator anthology movie Predator: Killer of Killers proves that animation can reinvigorate a franchise that, like the Terminator movies, has numerous failed live-action movie reboots. Moreover, the success of Terminator Zero proved that the Terminator series specifically can benefit from this approach. Rather than centering on Sarah and John Connor once again, Terminator Zero focused on Malcolm Lee, an engineer working on Skynet’s compeтιтor, and his family.

Terminator’s Best Project In Decades Is An Animated Show

Terminator Zero Comfortably Outdid The Live-Action Movie Sequels With Critics

As Lee attempted to escape Timothy Olyphant’s Terminator, a Skynet soldier arrived from the future and tried to save Lee and ensure Skynet was never launched. This plot wasn’t entirely unlike the stories of earlier Terminator movies, but switching the medium to animation brought new life and vitality to a familiar setup. While replacing Schwarzenegger with Reacher star Alan Ritchson or a similarly big star might seem like enough to make another live-action movie appealing, the franchise’s repeated failures prove that a medium change is a better approach.

A quick look at the Rotten Tomatoes scores of the franchise proves just how much Terminator Zero improved its standing. Where Terminator: Genisys earned a mere 26% and Terminator: Salvation earned only 33%, Terminator Zero managed a superb 86%. Admittedly, Terminator: Dark Fate did earn a surprisingly high 70%, but that reboot was also the franchise’s biggest financial failure to date. Thus, the Terminator franchise’s next reboot, Terminator 7, should be animated after Terminator Zero‘s success.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes