About four months ago, the ball had started rolling on ‘Terminator 5’ once again. After Skydance Productions and Annapurna Pictures joined forces to acquire the rights to the franchise, sibling producers Megan and David Ellison hired the unlikely duo of Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier to script the film. Then, star Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he’d be returning for the fifth installment with his signature catchphrase, “I’ll be back.”

This week, the whole crew has received some great news as Paramount Pictures has entered talks to distribute ‘Terminator 5’. With money being thrown into the project now, business can really start to pick up. And apparently, it’ll start picking up by the start of next year.

According to TheArnoldFans, Schwarzenegger revealed that the film should enter into production by January. Not only that, but he’ll also return to the series in the role of a Terminator rather than a human:

“In fact, I’m very happy that the studios want me to be in ‘Terminator 5’ and to star AS the Terminator, which we start shooting in January and I’m also going to do King Conan – to play that role and also to do another ‘Twins’ movie. So I feel very proud of that. I feel very happy and I’m looking forward to doing those films.”

While his age may be a factor in him playing the same character that he did back in 1984, the former governor doesn’t seem to see any problem whatsoever with this role reprisal. It would probably make more sense for him to play the specimen that Skynet uses as a model for their machines rather than the Terminators themselves, but who am I to tell the star of ‘The Last Stand’ what makes sense?

Now the only problem left to address before production can really begin, is the matter of a director. At one point, Justin Lin was attached, but he opted to take on ‘Fast & Furious 6’ instead. But now that he’s free now, maybe he’ll consider coming back to T5.

What do you think about Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to the ‘Terminator’ franchise as the titular character once again? Do you think that the casting will change to better fit with the series mythology once the script is finished? Share your thoughts in the comments below.