Netflix has released the trailer for Terminator Zero, the forthcoming Terminator anime series, and it looks amazing. Before today, we only had a few (admittedly exciting) still images to look at, but now we can see some of the show in all its glory – and it looks like it's going to be pretty gory.
As we previously reported, this isn't a retread of the movies, and that's a relief. By moving the story to Tokyo it doesn't just mean different scenery but a whole different take. Japan doesn't have the same gun culture that the US does, and that means Terminator Zero isn't going to be an endless procession of military hardware.
According to the show's showrunner Mattson Tomlin: “There's also a definite Taxi Driver, Travis Bickle kind of vibe in there… If I was going to fight a Terminator and I don't have guns, what are the weapons that I could concoct?”.
Terminator Zero: what we know so far
This new take on the Terminator story features exactly zero Arnold Schwarzeneggers and neither John nor Sarah Connor. There will be callbacks to the movies but the characters are all new. Of course, Skynet and the Terminators are still a key part but by cutting loose from the movies the new show can do something different.
I'm genuinely excited about this – and so are the rest of the TechRadar team – because Tomlin says that a key goal is to go back to the horror element of the original Terminator. I rewatched the movie recently with my kids and I'd forgotten how much of a horror movie it is compared to the more action-packed sequels – sequels which, while entertaining, feel increasingly by-the-numbers.
For the last four years I have been showrunning a TERMINATOR anime. Terminator is extremely important to me and I did the very best I could to make something that was a big swing with a lot of heart. This is the teaser trailer for TERMINATOR ZERO. https://t.co/wksghS8M0SJuly 15, 2024
The original movie may be very dated in terms of the FX but the Terminator is still genuinely scary in it, and that's the goal here too. According to Tomlin, the Terminators in this new adventure have “a little bit of Friday the 13th in here. There's a little bit of Michael Myers in here”.
Going by these early teasers of what's to come, it could be that we not only have a new contender for our roundup of the best Netflix shows, but that it also takes the best Netflix anime and horror crown.
Every episode of Terminator Zero will be available to stream on Netflix from 3am ET / 12am PT on Thursday, August 29.
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