Variety is reporting that Warner Bros. TV has selected director David Nutter (Dark Angel, Smallville, Supernatural) to helm the TV pilot for “The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” The Terminator-themed television show will be broadcast on FOX. Could that automatically spell doom for the new series?
Nutter, whose last 12 pilots have all been picked up to series, also will serve as executive producer of the project. Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar’s C2 Pictures, which produced the “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” feature, will also be producing this TV series along with Warner Bros. television.
The weekly stories will detail what has has only been alluded to in the three feature films. As outlined in Josh Friedman’s original script, this new installment in the “Terminator” franchise revolves around Sarah Connor and her son, John Connor, the future savior of mankind against the onslaught of created machines, and highlights the events in their lives between T2 and T3. “She has the weight of the world on her shoulders, and she also has to raise a 14-year-old son who may be the salvation of the world,” Nutter said.
FOX made a pilot commitment to the series last fall, after the script was initially presented by Friedman (“War of the Worlds”).
Casting for “The Sarah Connor Chronicles” is expected to begin immediately. Shooting begins on location in New Mexico early next year.
“It’s important for me to live up, as best I can, to the bar that Jim Cameron set,” Nutter told Daily Variety, saying the pilot “has to carry as much of a punch” as possible, even on a TV budget. “This is a huge project that’s going to take an extensive amount of preparation and pre-production,” he said, adding he wants to protect “the integrity of what Cameron created.”
Original “Terminator” stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger won’t be involved in the new project, according to Nutter.
All together now:
“Find Sarah Connor!”
This better not turn into a Terminator-of-the-week. In fact, I’m not sure how they’re supposed to bring a sci-fi element into this premise at all, apart from constantly making references to John Connor’s “destiny” and trying to prepare for it.
Yea. this sounds like a loser of an idea. What made the movies good was her-vs-Unbeatable-monster-of-the-future.
Kind of a boring premise of her running around training her son without big robots chasing her. And if they did have big robots chasing her, it would kind of contradict some of the things in the movies (because, of course, hollywood never contradicts itself).
Course, it never hurts to have a show about a wandering person (or person and kid) who drift into town, end up caught in some minor/major local issue, solve the issue, then move on.
That formula worked for “The Pretender”, and a handful of other shows, but if they go by the premise that she doesn’t believe the future has been changed, would she trust strangers enough to get involved in their lives when they’re just passing through?
They’d also have to ignore that bit in the extended T2 where you see John as a senator and an older Sarah sitting on a park bench watching him and her grandchild.
Time travel conundrums. And yes, I’m ignoring everything that happened in T3. Because I want to.