Real artificial intelligence is a power-sucking, job-stealing drain on humanity that isn’t very fun. But the artificial intelligence of science fiction still makes for a compelling, terrifying enemy. Now one of pop culture’s most iconic A.I.s is back once again. Netflix’s upcoming anime Terminator Zero will take fans back in time for another showdown between humans and machines. And Terminator Zero‘s latest trailer shows that the fight survival was even bigger than we knew.
Terminator Zero takes place in the same universe as the films, but it features all new characters also hoping to change mankind’s dark future. The show will follow a scientist who tries to use artificial intelligence to stop Skynet so that he can save his family and every other human. Here’s the series’ 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 the 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.
Terminator Zero comes from writer-showrunner Mattson Tomlin (Project Power, The Batman II) and the animation studio Production IG. It’s English-language dub stars Timothy Olyphant as the Terminator, André Holland as Malcolm Lee, Rosario Dawson as Eiko, Ann Dowd as The Prophet, and Sonoya Mizuno as Kokoro.
The eight episode season arrives at Netflix around the globe on the most appropriate of days. It premiere one Judgment Day August 29th, 2024. At least it does if mankind’s future remains unchanged by evil machines. Considering the current state of real A.I. plan on tuning in that day.