JAMES CAMERON ANNOUNCES LINDA HAMILTON’S RETURN TO “TERMINATOR” FRANCHISE

Linda Hamilton is set to return to the world of Terminator, reuniting with creator James Cameron for the new installment being made by Skydance and Paramount, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Cameron recently made the announcement at a private event, saying, “As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then, it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return.”

The 63-year-old producer is making a statement again on gender roles in action films.

“There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys,” he said, referring to aging male actors still anchoring movies, “but there isn’t an example of that for women.”

Tim Miller, who made his feature-film debut with Deadpool, is directing the sequel, which is returning to its origin by having Cameron involved for the first time since 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

The new film is based on a story created by Cameron and he will be producing together with Skydance, which will be distributed by Paramount and Fox for international release. Cameron and Miller are treating the movie as a direct sequel to Judgment Day and the themes of potential evils of technology will once again be at the fore. The project will also have a new generation of characters.

“We’re starting a search for an 18-something woman to be the new centerpiece of the new story,” Cameron revealed. “We still fold time. We will have characters from the future and the present. There will be mostly new characters, but we’ll have Arnold and Linda’s characters to anchor it.”

During an interview with ET’s Ash Crossan in August, Cameron discussed the future of Terminator franchise and how much the modern era of drones and artificial intelligence will mold the time-jumping, apocalyptic world.

“We have to ask ourselves some fundamental questions: Is there something that can be said in this Terminator universe that hasn’t been said – and is relevant to the world we’re in right now?” the Oscar-winning director said. “There’s so much in our world that’s catching up to Terminator. We have killer robots, they’re called unpiloted combat drones … we’re on the cusp of artificial intelligence that could be equal of a human intelligence.”

He added, “So we got to start asking ourselves what that means for our existence as a society and for our own sense of meaning.”

Cameron said things could get pretty bleak when it comes to dramatizing Terminator with that lens.

“This is where fiction comes in,” he shared. “It allows us to explore different possibilities, so obviously if we were to explore it in a Terminator, the context is all going to be very negative.”