The Terminator series could use some fresh blood, leading some fans to wonder who would be suited to the lead roles in a remake of 1984’s original sci-fi horror classic. The Terminator franchise has been struggling with critics for some time now, as proven by the numerous failed reboots of the series. Most recently, in 2019 Terminator: Dark Fate’s attempt to reboot the canon fell flat with both established franchise fans and newcomers.
Before this financial flop, though, both 2015’s Terminator: Genisys and 2009’s Terminator: Salvation had already failed to impress reviewers. Even 2003’s Terminator: Rise of the Machines was unable to recapture the success of its two predecessors, prompting some fans to wonder whether a remake of the original movie is the best course of the series to take. This has led to speculation about who could be cast in a 2022 Terminator movie.
It would be no easy task for a 2022 Terminator remake to recast iconic characters like Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s eponymous android assassin, the T-800. However, unlike many classic movies of its era, The Terminator does boast one helpful attribute when it comes to recasting. The movie’s small central cast means that a Terminator reboot would not need to replace too many major stars, with only five characters (Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese, the T-800, Ed Traxler, and Hal Vukovich) accounting for most of the movie's action. Of these five characters, only the first three play truly pivotal roles in the stripped-back, simple chase story of the original Terminator, meaning a recast remake could dispense with the knotty chronology of later sequels and bring back the intensity of the 1984 classic with a comparatively sparse cast. Here's who would be best in a recast The Terminator for 2022.
Linda Hamilton’s iconic Terminator franchise heroine Sarah Connor would be the most difficult character to recast in a 2022 remake. As proven by Terminator: Genisys’ misguided casting of Emilia Clarke in the role, even a popular leading lady could struggle to win over fans of the original battle-hardened heroine. However, Ready Or Not star Samara Weaving has the horror genre pedigree to prove she can lead a violent chase thriller like a Terminator remake and the charming screen presence necessary to appease fans who are loyal to Hamilton’s take on the role. While Hamilton’s tough-as-nails version of Sarah Connor has earned a place in the annals of sci-fi cinema history, Weaving has proven in everything from the Babysitter movies to Guns Akimbo to Mayhem that she can combine action movie heroics with the sardonic charm necessary to ground a story as far-fetched as The Terminator.
It is tempting to recast Michael Biehn’s Kyle Reese with a smaller, less tough actor to give Weaving’s action movie prowess more room to shine since viewers are wont to expect the likes of Jason Momoa or Henry Cavill in the heroic role. However, as the failure of Terminator: Genisys’s evil John Connor proves, subverting viewer expectations alone is not enough to save the Terminator franchise. While casting an actor not known for action roles would be an intriguing choice for Reese, the decision must be made based on the thespian’s talent rather than surprise value alone. As such, an actor better known for their dramatic chops like the versatile Jack Reynor could bring the right level of intensity and vulnerability to the time-traveling hero while also not fitting the standard "brawny blockbuster star" image viewers may have for the role.
Recasting the T-800 would arguably be even more difficult than finding a replacement for Sarah Connor in a 2022 Terminator remake. There is a reason that the killer robot is the franchise’s title character, and Schwarzenegger’s instantly recognizable villain remains beloved by fans despite all of the Terminator franchise’s problems. However, completely reinventing the character’s design (while maintaining his imposing physique) could help the Terminator franchise from sliding further into self-parody. Recent Terminator movies have attempted to transform Arnie’s T-800 into a sympathetic father figure to no avail, but a 2022 Terminator reboot that recast the character as a more human form of villain could prove successful by taking the opposite approach. The original T-800 could never fool any human it encountered and relied entirely on brute force, whereas a version of the Terminator played by rising star Jacob Elordi (best known for his role as Euphoria’s vile anti-villain Nate) could offer a more subtly scary take on the killer AI by playing the T-800 as a killer that charmed its victims before relying on its hulking psychical presence.
Ed Traxler, a world-weary cop with no idea how to handle the sci-fi threats he faces, calls to mind David Harbour’s Stranger Things antihero Hopper. However, this makes Harbour too obvious a choice for the part. Attempting to do his best but overwhelmed by the sheer unlikeliness of what he’s witnessing, Traxler ends up being both a voice of reason and a thorn in the side of the Terminator’s frustrated heroes at different stages of the story. To this end, The Invisible Man supporting star Aldis Hodge has proven he can take the role of a cop confused by a sci-fi villain he can’t comprehend and turn the thankless part into something believable and sympathetic. This experience proves he would be perfect as Traxler, while another genre movie mainstay would be ideal for the role of his more eccentric co-worker.
Lance Henriksen was already a familiar face for genre cinema fans who he played Hal Vukovich, Traxler’s colder colleague who also faces down against the T-800 despite doubting the assassin’s existence. A prospective Terminator reboot would need an acclaimed genre cinema supporting star to replace Henriksen, and Walton Goggins could be the ideal choice for the role. An indie star who has played a myriad of quirky, offbeat supporting characters in all manner of genre fare, Goggins would bring the right balance of unhinged intensity and cynical detachment that made Henriksen’s original performance memorable. However, Goggins can also be relied upon to give a unique spin on the part as he has done throughout his impressive screen career, making the actor an ideal choice for this supporting role in a 2022 Terminator reboot. Like Weaving, Reynor, Elordi, and Hodge alike, Goggins has enough in common with the Terminator star that he would be replacing to feel like an accurate homage while also providing enough difference from his predecessor to feel fresh and original.
Even classic movies have their thankless parts. Horror veteran John Goodman would be ideally suited to the role of Dr. Peter Silberman in a 2022 Terminator reboot since the versatile star could bring some more humanity to the reprehensible role. One of few minor characters to appear in more than one Terminator franchise outing, Dr. Silberman is the stern, stoic, and utterly unhelpful criminal pathologist who refuses to believe that the Terminator exists despite encountering the robot (twice). He tries to capitalize on Kyle and Sarah’s “shared delusions” by having them committed to psychiatric care, a move that makes him one of the more odious human foes in the franchise. Although this makes for a fairly one-note villain, Goodman has an impressive history of making potentially hate-worthy characters more complex and engaging than they first seem, making him an ideal choice for a reboot revision of Silberman who authentically wants to help Sarah and Kyle.
Horror legend Wes Craven’s final movie Scream 4 cast the then-rising star Lucy Hale as its heroine in the opening scene, only to swiftly kill the actor off in an homage to Drew Barrymore’s shocking death in the original Scream. 2022’s Terminator reboot could repeat this trick by casting the likable Hale as Ginger Ventura, Sarah’s doomed roommate. Killed shortly after being introduced, Ginger is a one-scene wonder whose spunky personality doesn’t stop her from receiving one of the movie’s most unexpectedly brutal deaths. Casting a slightly bigger name like Hale in the role would mislead viewers into thinking that Ginger’s chances for survival were better this time around—making her death all the more shocking and brutal. To recapture the effectiveness of the original Terminator, a 2022 remake's tone would need to bring back this slasher-style ruthlessness, and killing off a famous face like Hale as Ginger would be a step in the right direction.
