“Terminator Zero” Sneak Peek Reveals Netflix’s Anime Expansion of Iconic Sci-Fi Franchise

August 15, 2024

Netflix has dropped the first trailer for its upcoming animated series Terminator Zero, and eight-episode anime series that boasts a stellar voice cast and offers an intriguing expansion to the iconic sci-fi franchise.

Terminator Zero is part of the same universe as the film series but will introduce us to new characters. Partly set in 2022 during a raging war between the few human survivors of the machine apocalypse and partly set in 1997, when the artificial intelligence Skynet became self-aware and started its war against humanity, the series is centered on a soldier sent back in time to protect the scientist Malcolm Lee (André Holland). Malcolm is trying to develop a new AI system that will compete with Skynet, but his work has caught the attention of another time-traveler, an assassin from the future who means to stop him. His own fate and the fate of his three children hang in the balance.

“I was looking at the franchise and the first two movies in particular,” Terminator Zero showrunner Mattson Tomlin told Netflix’s Tudum. “And why are we still talking about this franchise 40 years later? You strip away killer robots, you strip away Judgment Day, what do you have left? You have stories about families.”

The cast includes Timothy Olyphant as the Terminator, Rosario Dawson as Kokoro, Japan’s artificial intelligence that is a direct competitor to Skynet, Sonoya Mizuno as Eiko, a resistance fighter sent back in time to stop Malcolm from creating Kokoro, and Ann Dowd as the Prophet, a philosopher who guides the human resistance in the future.

Check out the sneak peek below. Terminator Zero arrives on Netflix on August 29.

Here’s the official synopsis from Netflix:

2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity.

Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.

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