Summary
On Saturday, Netflix revealed a short teaser trailer that revealed the upcoming anime adaptation of the legendaryTerminatorfilm franchise, currently in development. The upcomingTerminatoranime project is under production by staff at Production I.G., the prolific studio behind the groundbreakingGhost in the Shellanime film franchise and series, in collaboration with Skydance Entertainment.
Not much in terms of cast, staff, or broadcast information has been made available as yet, but the upcomingTerminatoranime project joins the company of other huge adaptations championed by Netflix in recent years, including theScott Pilgrim Takes Offanime series dropping on Friday, November 17; theDevil May Cryanime byCastlevaniashowrunner Adi Shankarand many others.
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The upcomingTerminatoranime was originally ordered by Netflix a few years ago and announced back in February 2021, with Mattson Tomlin (The Batman) announced as showrunner and executive producer. The title formed part of Netflix’s Geeked Week 2023.
Production I.G founder and chairperson Mitsuhisa Ishikawa talked about his long-time friend and colleague Mamoru Oshii, who responded “Ishikawa,are you out of your mind?” when he asked the legendary director what he thought about the prospect of turning theTerminatorfranchise into an anime series. “At that instant, I was confident we should get onboard. As huge fans, our team at Production I.G is putting their heart and souls into creating this series. We hope fans will enjoy it!”, continued Ishikawa.
The holders of the rights to theTerminatorfranchise originally planned a collection of animated shorts titled “Termination”, which would focus on Judgment Day, the major day of significance in theTerminatoruniverse when Skynet destroys the majority of humanity. The project was set to be created by various prolific Japanese and European directors in 2008 for release in 2009, but it was not released.
While that project did not make the light of day, theiconic T-800 time-traveling robotthat has served as a protagonist and antagonist throughout theTerminatorfranchise has been featured in anime before, with the likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger making an official cameo in a June 2009 episode of theDoraemonanime, which many know is a legendary anime series about a boy and his time-traveling cat. Forming part of an exciting set of upcoming anime adaptations of highly popular IPs being developed through Netflix, not much else about the Terminator anime project has been shared as yet.
