Jason Clarke to Play John Connor in ‘Terminator: Genesis’

December 11th, 2013

Kevin Blumeyer

Jason Clarke has broken out in a big way over the past few years thanks to his memorable turns in movies like Zero Dark Thirty and Lawless and it appears his star will continue to rise as Deadline reports he has entered discussions to play John Connor in the upcoming fifth Terminator movie, which is now going by the name Terminator: Genesis. The character was last portrayed by Christian Bale in 2009’s Terminator Salvation.

Perhaps even more interesting are the actresses in contention to play John Connor’s mother, Sarah. Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) is considered the frontrunner, but Brie Larson (Short Term 12, Don Jon) is also in the mix. Both of these actresses are around 20 years younger than Clarke, which suggests there is going to be some serious time travelin’ goin’ on. But your guess is as good as mine as to whether Sarah is traveling to the future or John will be going back in time. More after the jump.

What we do know about the film is that Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) has signed on to direct, while Paramount has already set a July 1, 2015 release date. Arnold Schwarzenegger is also expected to return to his signature role as The Terminator.

Terminator Salvation may have flopped back in the summer of 2009, but the presence of the Ellison siblings gives me added hope that the fifth installment will get the franchise back on track. Megan’s Annapurna Productions typically focuses on prestige pictures and major awards players like The Master and American Hustle. Her brother David runs Skydance Productions, which generally focuses on summer blockbusters like World War Z and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Terminator: Genesis marks just the second collaboration between the two production companies, but things turned out pretty well the last time they worked together on a little movie called True Grit. If all goes well, the Ellisons will likely have enough time to make two Terminator movies before the rights fall back to James Cameron. Stay tuned for more on Terminator: Genesis as I imagine more details will soon begin falling into place.