Thirty-one years ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as the futuristic Terminator cyborg, uttered three words that would follow the muscle-bound actor throughout his career: “I’ll be back.”
After a 12-year hiatus from the franchise — to say nothing of his tenure as governor of “Kaul-ee-for-knee-a” — Mr. Schwarzenegger returns Wednesday in “Terminator: Genisys,” an alternate-universe take on the iconic time travel world created by director James Cameron and his onetime-wife, producer Gale Anne Hurd, in 1984.
In “The Terminator,” a self-aware defense computer called Skynet declares war on humanity, first via all-out nuclear assault and then by fashioning a robotic army to wipe out the remainder of mankind. In an effort to save itself from future defeat, Skynet sends a cyborg (Mr. Schwarzenegger) back to 1984 to assassinate Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton, Mr. Cameron’s fourth ex-wife), who will one day give birth to John Connor, the man who eventually will lead a human uprising to rout the machines.
“When we started, we looked at James Cameron’s first two movies again and really wanted to continue in the trend that he had started,” said Patrick Lussier, who co-wrote the “Genisys” script with Laeta Kalogridis. “We knew we wanted Arnold, first and foremost. We knew we wanted time travel. We knew we wanted Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese and John Connor all as central parts of the story.
“And we also wanted to create a way [for Mr. Schwarzenegger] to play the age that he is now.”
To solve the “problem” of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s now-67-year-old face, Mr. Lussier and Ms. Kalogridis came up with the idea that, in the new timeline, the Terminator will have spent many years with Sarah (now played by Emilia Clarke), and the machine’s living tissue over its metal endoskeleton has aged just like a human’s.
“That’s actually something that James Cameron said publicly many times,” Ms. Kalogridis said, adding that as the Terminator has spent time among humans, it has learned about them along the way. “I think we really wanted to see more than just a Terminator that runs over a couple of days [but] a Terminator that’s been immersed [with humans] over a few decades.”
Ms. Kalogridis said she and Mr. Lussier approached the new chapter of the blockbuster series as fans, claiming they fashioned a script they too would like to see realized on the big screen. And this being science fiction, the alternate-reality angle allowed them to break from the continuities established in the other four films and the Fox TV series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.”
“One of the great things about the franchise is that it allows for different timelines in the DNA of what it is,” Ms. Kalogridis said. “So ours is [an entirely] separate timeline.”
In the original “Terminator,” Sarah Connor is a mild-mannered, 19-year-old waitress who refuses to believe the stories told by her futuristic protector, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), that she will mother the eventual leader of a human army against the machines. By “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” Sarah has become a hardened warrior, this time teaming up with a second, reprogrammed Terminator to protect young John (Edward Furlong).
Ms. Kalogridis said the reset allowed the screenwriters to put a new spin on Sarah, incorporating elements of the first two films while allowing for her development in the new timeline, in which the Terminator is sent back to mentor Sarah from the age of 9.
“She’s meant to be the same character, but experientially different than [the previous Sarahs],” Ms. Kalogridis said. “Our Sarah, even though I think she carries echoes of both the innocent Sarah and the uberwarrior Sarah, she’s really not either one completely. She’s still rebelling in a way that the T2 Sarah did not. She has a parental figure [in the Terminator] who is preparing her for this inevitable life, which the earlier Sarah embraced. This Sarah sort of has it thrust up on her.
“For me, she’s essentially the same character [but] with a very different life experience,” she said. “And I hope she’ll feel less like one or the other and more like a completely different third thing.”
The new incarnation of warrior chief John Connor is portrayed by Australian Jason Clarke, a veteran of “Zero Dark Thirty” — coincidentally directed by Mr. Cameron’s third ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow. However, for “Terminator: Genisys” the character is essentially turned on its head.
“You can also say that he’s the nexus of the problem,” Mr. Clarke said, avoiding spoilers. “Technology and the battle isn’t just us versus machines and a fight to the death. We’re creating the technology, and it’s within us. And then John becomes [a key to the new story], but he doesn’t really know what he is yet.”
Mr. Clarke grew up on the writings of Isaac Asimov, as well as the venerated sci-fi film classics “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Blade Runner,” and “The Lord of the Rings” books. When the “Terminator” script arrived on his door, he knew right away he wanted to be a part of the blockbuster.
“You don’t step into something as big and as long as this commitment unless you think, ’OK, this is going to challenge me,’” he said. “Our version of this universe is that the machines have become better and stronger and are trying to dominate [humans]. [And] a character you had previously rooted for and loved and had been this great respected person was now the problem itself. I thought it was interesting to take John there.”
Mr. Clarke said he savored not only the physicality and training required for his role, but also the chance to share action sequences with the godfather of the genre, Mr. Schwarzenegger.
“To do these scenes with Arnold was surreal,” he said. “There’s lots of big, long setups, and working with ropes and wires is a lot of fun.”
Mr. Lussier, a film editor by trade, said his unique background provided him with a different methodological approach to screenwriting.
“Certainly having an editorial background was really helpful in imagining whether or not the components you actually need [in the screenplay are there],” he said. “It was a wonderful experience working with Laeta in that regard. Whereas her character work and story work is always so brilliant, our partnership allows both of us to enhance each other’s creative instincts.”
Despite co-writing and directing the first two films, Mr. Cameron has had no active participation in the “Terminator” universe for two decades. However, the Canadian director of “Titanic” and “Avatar” was given a special screening of the new film, directed by Alan Taylor, and gave it his blessing.
“I think we were very lucky that he felt that we had added something to the universe, as opposed to taking something way,” said Ms. Kalogridis, a longtime producer in her own right.
Added Mr. Lussier: “It was incredibly wonderful and a generous surprise that Mr. Cameron had taken the time to A) see the film and B) respond publicly and with such a resounding endorsement.”
“I always think that it’s more interesting, especially in giant franchises, to take chances,” Ms. Kalogridis said of the direction she and Mr. Lussier are taking the story of man versus machine. “It’s more interesting to do something unexpected and go with it and hope that it works.”
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