“Once the dust clears on ‘Avatar’ in a couple of months, I’m going to really plunge into that,” Cameron said.

James Cameron gives update on if Arnold Schwarzenegger will return for future Terminator movies

"Once the dust clears on 'Avatar' in a couple of months, I'm going to really plunge into that," Cameron said.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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December 19, 2025 2:39 p.m. ET

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Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Terminator 2'. Credit: A. Rapoport/Tri-Star

Sorry, *Terminator* film series fans, Arnold Schwarzenegger will not be back this time.

Franchise co-creator James Cameron gave the shocking update during a new interview with *The Hollywood Reporter*, revealing that he doesn't plan on having the 78-year-old action star return for the upcoming installment of the long-running series, and is more focused on ushering a new generation of characters.

"I can safely say he won't be [in it]," Cameron told the outlet. "It's time for a new generation of characters. I insisted Arnold had to be involved in *Terminator: Dark Fate*, and it was a great finish to him playing the T-800. There needs to be a broader interpretation of *Terminator* and the idea of a time war and super intelligence. I want to do new stuff that people aren't imagining."

Schwarzenegger has appeared in almost every entry in the *Terminator* franchise, starting with 1984's titular film and ending with 2019’s *Dark Fate*. While he didn't personally appear in 2009's* Terminator Salvation*, his likeness was used for a CGI cameo of the T-800.

Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1984's 'The Terminator'.

Orion Pictures Corporation/Courtesy Everett

Earlier this year, Schwarzenegger appeared on an episode of *Watch What Happens Live* in June during which he fielded an audience question about which *Terminator* movie he thinks is the worst of all time.

"I would say the worst was probably the No. 4, because that was done during the time I was governor [of California] and I was not in it," Schwarzenegger said to host Andy Cohen, referencing 2009's Christian Bale-starring blockbuster *Terminator Salvation*.

He continued, asking, "How do you do a *Terminator* movie without me being in the *Terminator* movie? It doesn't make any sense."**

Safe to say he wasn't aware of Cameron's plans for *Terminator*'s Schwarzenegger-less future.

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James Cameron says parts of 'The Terminator' are 'pretty cringeworthy': 'I don’t think of it as some Holy Grail'

Meanwhile, Cameron told *THR *that he is excited to start working on the seventh film entry following the release of *Avatar: Fire and Ash.*

"Once the dust clears on *Avatar* in a couple of months, I'm going to really plunge into that," Cameron shared. "There are a lot of narrative problems to solve. The biggest is how do I stay enough ahead of what's really happening to make it science fiction?"

Linda Hamilton, James Cameron, Joe Morton, and Arnold Schwarzenegger on set of 'Terminator 2'.

TriStar Pictures/Courtesy Everett

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The acclaimed director noted that he isn't interested in relying on any callbacks to previous entries in the next project.

"The things that scare you the most are exactly the things you should be doing," Cameron declared. "Nobody should be operating artistically from a comfort zone."

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