The title of the new Terminator suggests a lot and there’s more of a puzzle when we know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to the series and that the rumour is he’s reprising his iconic role.

Now there are rumours regarding a new actor to play Kyle Reese and the fact that they’re looking for a younger, newer actor seems to hit home with the title.

Are we looking at an origin film kicking off the new trilogy and television series?

For some time now the rumours and speculation have been going on the new Terminator film. We’ve heard bits and pieces but now we’re starting to hear some actual news.

Terminator: Genesis does more than just suggest that we’re seeing an origin film, and most likely the origin of the Terminators, although I thought we had seen that briefly already in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

However this might not be the origin of SkyNet but rather of the Terminator we all know and love, something we almost got to see in Terminator Salvation (Filmstalker review).

I’ve said it before that McG filmed a nice little sequence where we saw Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the soldier who was the template for the Terminator, although not for his voice. It was an amusing moment and a nice little additional scene but nothing of great value. However it did raise the question of who made them?

That continued on after the film and there has been speculation ever since about a new film where we would see Schwarzenegger playing the man behind the Terminators, however nothing has been confirmed.

Could he come back to play another Terminator? Could he pull it off again? I think he could but I’m not sure that we’re just going to be in for another straight Terminator story for another trilogy.

Of course the idea that they are casting young for Kyle Reese does suggest that they could just play out a similar Terminator time travel story again with younger characters, either sending the robot further back in time to kill John Connor or deciding to go after his less well protected protector Kyle Reese. After all, killing the protector of John Connor in the past might allow the future time travelling robot to kill John Connor in the near future, i.e. change the history of the original films. With me?

The news of the younger casting comes through Variety and Collider who tell us that Nicholas Hoult and Garrett Hedlund have already passed up on the role and that Boyd Holbrook, Tom Cocquerel, Wilson Bethel, Sam Reid and Jai Courtney are all set to test for the role this week, in fact yesterday to be precise. Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke are already set to play Sarah and John Connor.

Variety do pick up on the fact that the actor Jason Clarke is older than the other actors either being tested or already in place, well apart from Arnie that is, and that this would suggest a time travel element. Of course older actors have never played younger characters, but it's a good bet.

Well I think the whole franchise suggests that but the fact that it’s John Connor who is older either suggests that we’re seeing him in the future while everyone else is in the past, or that John Connor himself is sent back in time, and it’s that latter part that is the most interesting.

There could be two plot lines of course, one in the future with John Connor and one in the past with the younger characters and the Terminator, after all sending Connor back in time wouldn’t really be the best thing for the war effort, unless he was sent back after the war.

Okay, wild speculation now, but I think it’s massively intriguing as to how they are going to bring the franchise back with a new trilogy and one that will capture audiences again. My greatest fear is that they are just bringing in younger talent and playing out a similar story to the one’s we’ve seen before. I really hope that’s not the case.

Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier wrote the script. For reference Kalogridis has written on Night Watch (Nochnoy dozor) (Filmstalker review), Alexander (Filmstalker review), Pathfinder, Bionic Woman, Shutter Island and is working on Battle Angel and the screen adaptation of the excellent book Altered Carbon. Lussier has written Drive Angry. Definitely two sides of a coin there. Which way will it land?