A quick teaser trailer for the upcoming anime adaptation of the famous Terminator film franchise was released by Netflix on Saturday. The anime adaptation is currently in progress. Staff members at Production I.G., the thriving studio behind the ground-breaking Ghost in the Shell anime film franchise and series, are working with Skydance Entertainment on the upcoming Terminator anime project.
The upcoming Terminator anime project joins the ranks of other massive adaptations supported by Netflix in recent years, such as the showrunner Adi Shankar’s Devil May Cry anime from Castlevania, and the Scott Pilgrim Takes Off anime series, which premieres on Friday, November 17. Not much information about the cast, crew, or broadcast has been released as of yet.
Netflix originally made an order for the upcoming Terminator anime a few years ago, and Mattson Tomlin (The Batman) was named as the showrunner and executive producer back in February 2021. The title was featured during Geeked Week 2023 on Netflix.
Founder and chairman of Production I.G. Mitsuhisa Ishikawa spoke to his longtime friend and colleague Mamoru Oshii, asking the legendary director what he thought about the possibility of making an anime series based on the Terminator franchise, to which Oshii replied, “Ishikawa, are you out of your mind?” “I knew right then and there that we ought to board. Our team at Production I.G is passionately creating this series because we are huge fans. We hope that fans will find it enjoyable,” Ishikawa added.
Story Behind ‘Terminator: The Anime Series’
The original idea behind the Terminator franchise rights holders was to create an animated short collection called “Termination” with a focus on Judgment Day, the day that matters most in the Terminator universe because it is when Skynet wipes out most of humanity. Many well-known Japanese and European directors were supposed to start work on the project in 2008 and have it ready for release in 2009, but it never happened.
Even though that project was never completed, the iconic T-800 time-traveling robot, which has appeared in several Terminator films as both a protagonist and an antagonist, has been shown in anime before. In fact, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s likeness was officially featured in an episode of the renowned anime series Doraemon, which is known for being about a boy and his time-traveling cat, that aired in June 2009. Not much more information has been released about the Terminator anime project as of yet, but it will be part of an exciting lineup of upcoming anime adaptations of hugely popular IPs being developed by Netflix.