Terminator Zero Showrunner Reveals New Anime Won't Involve Guns

The showrunner for Netflix's Terminator anime reveals why the show won't have that many guns involved.

By Evan Valentine

Terminator Zero is planning to present fans with the first anime focusing on the fight against Skynet. Ever since the T-100 was sent into the past in 1984 with the first Terminator film, the story of humanity's fight for survival has continued in movies and television series. While this will be the first time that the Terminator franchise has tried its hand at an anime series, the upcoming Netflix show will be adding some big changes to the universe as guns won't be as present as other stories focusing on the T-100s.

Terminator Zero will hit Netflix on August 29th, releasing eight episodes to follow the story of Malcolm Lee, a scientist struggling with the rise of artificial intelligence. The series is produced by Production I.G., a studio that many anime fans have become quite familiar with especially this year. In 2024, the production house released the box office hit, Haikyu: The Dumpster Battle, along with unleashing one of the most highly anticipated anime series of the year, Kaiju No. 8.

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(Photo: Production IG)

Terminator Versus Guns

There will be guns in Terminator Zero, but thanks to much of the story taking place in Japan, a country that outlaws firearms, they won't be featured nearly as much as projects that were tailored for North America. In a new interview, showrunner Mattson Tomlin described how this decision came about for the upcoming anime series, "I was aware that there aren't really guns in Japan, and I don't think I quite appreciated how real that was. "My partners at Production I.G came back and said, 'Hey, so…there are no guns [in Japan]. If we needed a gun, we don't know where we would get it.' It was just such a stunning moment for me, like, 'Oh, wow, I am an American.'"

If you want a closer look at the story of Terminator Zero, here's how Netflix describes the story of the anime from Production I.G., "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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Do you think Terminator Zero will do the franchise justice? Follow along with Team Anime on ComicBook for all the latest updates on Skynet's arrival in the anime world. 

Via Entertainment Weekly

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