Let’s face it, the Terminator franchise has seen better days, and Arnold Schwarzenegger actually has a strong back catalogue of other movies and characters that haven’t suffered diminished returns in the way that Terminator has, so when we started to think about the movies we would like to see Arnold make next, it wasn’t that surprising that Terminator 7 was pretty low on our list.
We are a Terminator fan site but there are other Schwarzenegger movies we’d also really love to see get made.
So, what movies (and franchises) would we like to see Arnold come back in?
Predator 3
What happened to Dutch? Well, the video game Predator: Hunting Grounds has been trying to fill in the blanks a little bit, and fans were more than excited to see an older Schwarzenegger reprise the role of Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer.
Unlike Arnold’s Terminator CSM-101 Terminator roles / characters, the character of Dutch is completely untainted, and stands as one of Schwarzenegger’s finest cinematic performances. This makes a potential ‘Dutch’ return not only interesting, but also profitable, if done right.
A fresh story and a much needed box office success for Arnold and the Predator IP would be very welcome; providing the movie is as solid as the first one, but that seems to be something that the Hollywood of today has trouble executing.
A new Predator movie is in the works with Dan Trachtenberg at 20th Century Studios but whether Dutch is part of those plans remains to be seen…
King Conan – The Legend of Conan
Another Conan installment has always had support from fans, but obviously when it was prime time for Schwarzenegger to do another Conan he became Governor of California and now, the current rights holder has plans that seemingly don’t appear to include the Austrian Oak.
The return of everyone’s favorite barbarian at this stage may never happen but if it did, it would need to be an epic sword and sorcery movie, and would need to seriously rival the likes of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the fantasy genre; that would necessitate great directing, epic camera work with amazing panoramic shots (aerial camera work), and on-location filming with CGI left only to touch up practical effects monsters / creatures.
Chris Morgan (Fast and Furious franchise) was once attached as writer and producer, and if we’re honest – that was a huge put off for us at the time. King Conan needs to be a special movie, but if it can’t be that or be done justice, then perhaps it’s best left unmade.
John Milius (writer / director Conan the Barbarian 1982) has worked on a story, and capable / talented director Paul Verhoeven has expressed interest in directing the movie but Conan may end up coming to the small screen sooner than we think; sadly without Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Commando 2 + Rambo 6 = EXTRADITION
It’s easy to draw comparisons between John Matrix and John James Rambo – these ruthless one man army characters were on-screen gold in the 80’s but let’s face it, Schwarzenegger and Stallone have not had the best run of late at the box office; and in all honesty it doesn’t really feel like we’ve ever had the ultimate Schwarzenegger Vs Stallone movie. So why not make Commando 2 a sequel to the original; which is also a sequel to Rambo: Last Blood at the same time?
The last Rambo film was good but it certainly wasn’t perfect. A Rambo 6 / Commando 2 movie has potential, and we think if Mr. Stallone wrote and directed the movie it could be a hit for the two last true action heroes.
EXTRADITION is a title that came to mind when thinking about what we would like to see in terms of a story, and, well, Rambo did a lot of killing in Last Blood, the kind of killing that makes you a wanted man… and maybe John Matrix has been asked out of retirement to lead a crack team to bring Rambo back to the United States, but maybe it could all take an exciting twist and turn them from enemies into frenemies in the ultimate team up movie. This would need to put the body-count meter through the roof.
Rambo and Matrix are rich characters that can have a lot of depth to explore in a story, mix that with insane action and the visceral violence of the last couple of Rambo outings and we think it could be something really special.
Total Recall 2
Totall Recall is one of those movies that making a sequel to could just be a big mistake. The movie left unanswered questions, of course intentionally, but still, questions that could be interesting to find out the answers to – providing the movie has a clear direction and story.
Blue skies and oxygen on mars… was that real, or a memory implanted by Rekall? If it was real, is it sustainable, could / did the alien technology lead to darker secrets and adventures for Douglas Quaid? Have other planets been terraformed in the same way, is Quaid even on Mars anymore? Does an intergalactic secret agent ever truly retire? Or, did Quaid return back to construction work after a stint at a mental health facility? It does appear that there are plenty of interesting questions to validate audiences, and Arnold, getting their asses back to mars.
Oh, and don’t forget to bring Johnny Cab back too – but let’s move with the times and make him an irritating hologram that now Arnold can’t even tear out the vehicle!
Last Action Hero 2
A Last Action Hero sequel (in our opinions) is a movie we need right now, it needs to be full of spectacular action pieces, amazing visuals, it needs to have heart with its story and show the character progression of Jack Slater – but most of all it needs to be fun.
JACK IS BACK
Sorry, we couldn’t resist…
We’re in a pandemic and the movie industry has been hit pretty hard by COVID-19… what happens to Jack Slater’s world when people stop going to the movies? Do the characters (and world) disintegrate and cease to exist; akin to the ‘snap‘ in Marvel‘s cinematic universe?
The first Last Action Hero movie didn’t succeed in the way that was hoped, but a sequel should perhaps consider, this time, bringing in some more big names, franchises and properties to make smart cameos that interweave with a new Jack Slater story. Regardless if you like Fortnite or not, the way it has other franchises participate in its world; shows the kind of potential that Last Action Hero 2 could tap into.
We would love to see Jack Slater back again, and let’s have cameos from the likes of RoboCop, Predators, Aliens, Terminators, Rambo and more.
Now where’s that golden ticket…
Maggie 2
Maggie was a movie that came as a surprise, Arnold gave a great performance, and his character ‘Wade Vogel’, survived the movie. It would be interesting to return to that world again, especially with an R Rating. Arnold + Zombies could be a huge win.
A sequel to Maggie could go for a Last of Us (the first game) kind of situation where a new character, one without hope / protection needs saving. This would be a new protector role for Arnold’s character, yes, we admittedly are a little tired, at TheTerminatorFans.com, of protector roles in the Terminator movies, but outside of Terminator and in a world overridden with zombies – the protector role for Arnold would be really great, especially in the context of moving the story forward from where Maggie ended. It would also be a chance for Arnold to show the depth of his acting chops once again, whilst also doing something else he’s good at… using a shotgun.
True Lies 2
Fans have wanted another super spy outing from Harry and Helen Tasker for a while, but world events and controversies put the kibosh on it happening.
Right now Arnold’s signed on for spy show which, on the surface with little information, looks to be a spiritual continuation of True Lies; with the studio that made Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate helming the show, with Arnold as a spy, and Monica Barbaro playing his daughter.
The success of that show will obviously determine if interest in True Lies continues.
Also worth noting: Terminator Salvation‘s director, McG, was working on rebooting True Lies as a TV show and had ideas about a Schwarzenegger cameo at some point. The Skydance series will undoubtedly draw comparisons to James Cameron‘s True Lies, though hopefully the series is good enough to ease the True Lies appetite, for now, at least.
Kindergarten Cop – John Kimble Sequel
Kindergarten Cop acts as a great standalone Arnold film but it got a semi-sequel with Dolph Lundgren. A recent reunion sparked some interest in a sequel that may reunite John Kimble with some of the children he helped protect at the elementary school in Astoria, Oregon.
Could a trip back to Astoria trigger a new series of events for the retired Detective, a past grudge re-ignited, or perhaps a new mission to protect children from a new threat? It could work, maybe some of the children Kimble helped to protect were inspired to become teachers, or to work in law enforcement – they could become strong allies to Kimble.
Obviously this time around John Kimble would have to happenstance into a situation; as it isn’t likely he would still be active as an undercover cop, but if the safety of children, or perhaps the child of one of his old students was at the root, he would be willing to kick some ass for another outing we’re sure.
Twins 2 – Triplets
This has been on the cards for such a long time but for whatever reason it just hasn’t happened. We know the premise was to introduce a third sibling in the form of Eddie Murphy, and that Julius (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Vincent (Danny DeVito) Benedict would reprise their roles.
July 2020 brought the sad news that Kelly Preston (Marnie Mason) had passed away from breast cancer. If a movie went ahead; we think it should center on the loss of her character, and should be dedicated to her in the way that the new Ghostbusters move (Afterlife) is set to honor the memory of Harold Ramis and his Ghostbuster Egon Spengler.
Terminator 7
For fans that do want more Terminator… most want a future war movie with John Connor leading the Resistance. We do support more Terminator movies but it has to be done right, and in our opinion, is just hasn’t been done right for too long.
As it stands with Terminator at the moment is; you could make a sequel to any of the sequels / reboots and it wouldn’t make much difference to the fragmented fanbase. Some would be happy, some would be sad, some would support regardless, some wouldn’t care. We still think Terminator needs time to heal, but it would also be a shame to deny Arnold the ability to end his time in the franchise on a high note – though either way you look at it, he proved himself in 1984 and again in 1991, and he really doesn’t have anything to prove to the fanbase.
As you can see, there is huge potential for Arnold to make some interesting continuations to his previous successes, but these stories are sacred to many people and Hollywood should beware of messing with any of the properties and not respecting the material or the people who love these stories.
Do you think there’s anything we’ve missed? Are there any other Schwarzenegger sequels you would like to see get made?
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