Netflix released a teaser for its upcoming anime series based on the iconic sci-fi franchise The Terminator. The teaser, which was revealed during Netflix’s Geeked Week 2023 event, warns that “on August 30th, 1997… two days from now… everything changes.”
The teaser is just that. It does not show any footage from the anime series, but it does hint at the pivotal date in the Terminator lore when Skynet, a rogue artificial intelligence network, becomes self-aware and launches a nuclear war against humanity. The series will explore the events leading up to and following Judgment Day, as well as introduce new characters and stories in the Terminator universe.
For those not familiar, it was revealed in Terminator 2: Judgment Day that August 30, 1997, is the date when the artificial intelligence network known as Skynet becomes self-aware and rebels against humanity. The ensuing battle against the machines spans across the last decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st.
Here’s the official synopsis:
2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines.
1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity. Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.
The Terminator anime series is a collaboration between Netflix, Skydance, and Japan Animation Studio Production I.G., known for its work on Ghost in the Shell, Psycho-Pass, and FLCL. The showrunner and writer for the series is Mattson Tomlin, who also co-wrote The Batman and Project Power for Netflix.T
The Terminator franchise was created by James Cameron in 1984 with the original film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the titular cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor, the mother of the future leader of the human resistance, John Connor. The film spawned five sequels, a TV show, and various comics, games, and novels.
Netflix has not announced the release date or the cast for the upcoming anime series. Fans of the franchise can expect to see more details and updates soon.
Check out the Terminator anime series teaser trailer below:
