12 Secrets Revealed in the Trailer for TERMINATOR: GENISYS

We’ll admit, we weren’t too excited at the prospect of another Terminator movie. With the mediocre sequels and Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series, it seemed like the franchise had become hopelessly muddled and overextended, and the idea of casting an aging Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Terminator seemed misguided. We also were confused by early reports that Genisys would function as both a sequel and a reboot to the franchise. But then we saw the trailer and it blew us away. Let’s break it down.

First, let’s watch the trailer:

Now for the breakdown:

1. Hollywood Gets It Again

We have a theory that the reason Los Angeles gets destroyed so many times in disaster movies is that it appeals to studio executives who live in Hollywood. In the pitch meeting, they say, “In this movie, LA gets destroyed! Right where you’re standing!” It hits close to home. But it apparently happens again in this movie, because you can see the Hollywood sign. That fits with the original movie, which took place in Los Angeles. If the time machine only moves them in time and not space, then SkyNet’s device is based in California.

2. New Skynet Weapons

At one point, we a new weapon from Skynet, what looks like a version of the famous HK-Tank, but with legs instead of tractor treads. Most likely, we’ll be seeing lots of new Skynet toys in the epic showdown between the Resistance and Skynet’s forces.

3. Judgement Day

Now things get interesting. It seems like we will witness Judgement Day itself, the day the nuclear bombs launch all over the world. This is a frightening view from space. This tells us the movie will be starting from before the original story to the events that led up to the time travel.

4. John Connor’s Face

John Connor (Jason Clarke) has his face all messed up. It could be from combat, showing the scars of his “long and terrible war” against Skynet. It could also be an explanation for why he looks nothing like Christian Bale. (Doesn’t explain why everyone else looks different, though) But we also hear his speech, which seems to be preparing for the final attack on Skynet.

5. Terminator Storage

This is a really creepy scene, where they show the humanoid Terminators in storage like racks of meat hanging from the ceiling. One drops down, presumably the iconic Terminator from the last movie. We’ll see more of him later.

6. The Time Machine

For the first time, we see the actual time machine used by Skynet to send the Terminator and later Kyle Reese back in time. At this point in the trailer, it seems like this movie is going to be about showing the events of the first movie from the perspective of the future.

7. “Come with me if you want to live!”

Here’s the point where we got interested. Because this is where it diverges completely from the original movie. Kyle Reese is in the store where he got his clothes from the first movie, but now the T-1000 is here, pursuing him. In the original timeline, the T-1000 didn’t show up until years later. And then, of course, Sarah Connor (Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke) busts in to say the classic line originally spoken by Reese.

8. The New T-1000

This movie seems to be a mash-up of the best elements from the franchise, bringing back the T-1000. Outside the store, we saw a police officer. Presumably this is the officer the T-1000 replicates instead of the original police officer from T2. Instead of making a CGI Robert Patrick to play the younger T-1000, they re-cast him, hiring Korean actor Lee Byung-Hun to play the molten metal menace. Interestingly enough, he kind of looks like Patrick.

9. The Younger Terminator

It looks like they’re taking the CGI Schwarzenegger from Terminator: Salvation out of mothballs again, so we can see the older Terminator fight him. It looks more realistic this time. Hopefully it will be a better fight. But Connor says that “we already took care of him,” so that implies that when Reese shows up, the fight between the old and new Terminator might already have happened. The Good Terminator says “I’ve been waiting for you,” so it looks like he was already there when the Bad Terminator appears. If that’s true, then the Bad Terminator isn’t the main villain in this one – looks like the T-1000 is. Which is just as well.

10. Why the Terminator is Old

Okay, so the big question since the movie was first announced is this: how can they cast Arnold Schwarzenegger? How can there be an older Terminator? Did Skynet start making Terminators to infiltrate retirement homes? The key is this scene.

[Potential Spoiler Alert!] Who’s that guy? Looks a lot like the young Terminator. Who’s the girl? We think it’s Sarah Connor. Our guess is that the good Terminator was sent back in time earlier to when Sarah was just a child. He’s been helping and protecting her for decades. This jibes with what Arnie himself explained in a press briefing, “The way that the character is written, it’s a machine underneath. It’s this metal skeleton. But above that is human flesh. And the Terminator’s flesh ages, just like any other human being’s flesh. Maybe not as fast. But it definitely ages.” That also explains why the whole timeline has been changed.

11. The Bus Flip

It looks like Nolan changed the game when he flipped a city bus in The Dark Knight. Genisys tries to one-up it with a school bus flip…three times as high in the air. This is probably the end of an epic car chase, since we also saw the T-1000 land on a car earlier, and there’s a scene later in the trailer with them all over the wreckage of the bus. Another important point is this looks like the Golden Gate Bridge, so we know part of the movie is in San Francisco.

12. The Even Older Terminator

Now something else is implied by this one shot. It shows the Good Terminator with white hair, as opposed to the Good Terminator from earlier with dark hair. Does this mean the scene is set further in the future? Does the “present day” Good Terminator have white hair? And does he survive throwing himself into the helicopter? Is this how he exits the franchise? This is one secret that will have to wait until the movie.

[Via Hollywood Reporter]

What do you think of Terminator: Genisys? What did you spot?

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