Terminator Concept

Friends, the other day I was telling Jacob my plans for the Terminator franchise if I'd had the resources back in the day.  Let's elaborate!

First, some background:

Last October (1997), at a bankruptcy auction of the various properties of Carolco Pictures, Vajna paid $8 million for half the sequel, prequel, remake, and TV series rights to “Terminator,” outbidding Dimension.

Sometime between 1 January 1998 and 26 March 1998: Vajna and Kassar acquired producer Gale Anne Hurd’s half of the “Terminator” rights, leaving them free to produce a “T3? movie.

My first project would be a television series, basically my version of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.  The pilot episode would pick up where The Terminator left off, a pregnant Sarah heading south into Mexico.  From there, the show would tell the story of Sarah's struggles, living off the grid while she prepares John for his destiny.  And looming in the background, ominously building up over the course of the series, would be the story of Skynet. 

Rule number one in the writer's bible would be "NO TERMINATORS".  The series would have a tight five-year story arc.  It would use time jumps between seasons to advance the story over the twelve years between the end of The Terminator and Judgement Day.  And it would use voiceover narration, the tapes Sarah would be making for John, to hold the narrative together across time and space.  A brunette Sarah Michelle Gellar would be my choice to play Sarah Connor.  After watching the Buffy episode when Buffy confides to Spike that her friends had ripped her out of heaven when they resurrected her, I really think Sarah Michelle could bring a deep sadness to the role.  And she has Sarah eyes. ^_^  Since she was already playing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I'd have to put my series on hold until 2004.  No problem.

Sarah Connor (2004-2009) would lead into my Future War film trilogy.  The trilogy would use a framing device, inspired by omitted scenes from T2, of future John recalling the war before sending Reese and the second Terminator back in time.  The Ashes of the Nuclear Fire (2010) would tell the story of Judgement Day, Skynet rounding up survivors for work and orderly disposal, and John Connor turning it around.  The War Against the Machines (2012) would tell the story of Kyle Reese growing up in the ruins and fighting Skynet, always with John Connor in the background.  The Year of Darkness (2014) would tell the story of the end of the war.  Skynet would be defeated in an epic final battle.  But then at the last second, it'd send the T-800 to 1984 and the T-1000 to 1995.  This is where the trilogy would catch up with the framing device.  John sends Reese back in time.  And then the trilogy would end with John looking at the second Terminator in cold storage, foreshadowing Terminator 2.  End title card: THE FUTURE IS NOT SET.

I don't know who I'd have play John Connor.  Christian Bale comes to mind, just because he played John in Salvation and you can't really beat Christian Bale acting-wise.  But in 2004, he'd already have been locked into Nolan-Batman.  And I think giving him another franchise would be a mistake anyway.  Looking at pictures of grizzled older actors, I think Sam Shepard would be a good John Connor.

For reference, my timeline would look like this:
The Terminator
Sarah Connor
Future War trilogy
Terminator 2
The unknown future ...