The Terminator franchise is getting a new lease on life as an anime series on Netflix, Variety reported.

The streaming platform announced the upcoming series during their Geeked Week promo. Its current working title is Terminator: The Anime Series. The show will have brand-new characters from the animation studio Production IG.

The official synopsis said: “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.”

Matt Tomlin is the series' showrunner, writer and executive producer. American production company Skydance will also executive produce. Masashi Kudo, a Bleach character designer, will direct. Terminator: The Anime Series will have eight episodes.

Tomlin stated, “Anyone who knows my writing knows I believe in taking big swings and going for the heart. I’m honored that Netflix and Skydance have given me the opportunity to approach ‘Terminator’ in a way that breaks conventions, subverts expectations and has real guts.”

History of The Terminator

The Terminator franchise started as a low budget film in 1984 by James Cameron with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the titular character. The Terminator was a cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the woman who will give birth to the leader of the resistance.

The movie was a box office hit, with a worldwide gross of $78.4 million against a $6.4 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. Its sequel, 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, grossed $520.9 million worldwide against a $102 million budget.

Both films have been considered two of the best science fiction movies made. However, the rest of the films in the franchise have not met the same praise from both critics and audiences.

The latest film, 2019's Terminator: Dark Fate did not fare well in the box office despite star Linda Hamilton's return. With a budget of $185 million, it only made $261.1 million worldwide.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, released in 2003, received generally positive reviews.

Released in 2009. Terminator Salvation is the only movie in the franchise to not star Schwarzenegger. Instead, it starred Christian Bale. The film was originally intended to the first in a trilogy, but because it underperformed in the box office, the plans were scrapped.

Schwarzenegger returned in 2015's Terminator Genisys, a reboot of the franchise. While it was the second-highest grossing film out of the five released, its commercial performance was still underwhelming to the studio.

With the Netflix anime adaptation, here's to hoping that the Terminator franchise can reclaim its lost glory.