Arnold Schwarzenegger is back playing the role that made him a household name as the killer robot from the future in Terminator Genisys. This time he story takes us back to the beginning, when John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance in a war against the machines, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future. An unexpected term of events takes place while Reese is sent back fracturing the timeline and causing him to land in an unfamiliar version of the past where there is a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) that has been protecting Connor since she was 9 years old.

In this new installment, of the well established franchise created by James Cameron, producers David Ellison and Dana Goldberg break some rules and bring us a different aspect of a story that has become a classic amongst science fiction fans all over the world. For starters, we finally get to see that very first moment where John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time only to be surprised by the fact that when Reese arrives he is the one being saved by Sarah Connor.

Director Alan Taylor explains, “What we tried to do is to begin in timelines that we know from the mythology and then take them in new directions and do it in a way that makes sense so we see a future that we saw glimpses of in the previous movies and then dive to a past that we’ve seen glimpses of in the past movies but this film tries to take us into new territory behind that while not contradicting any of the things we already know about this mythology.” So, we are in a sense seeing the same story up to a point and then the changes arrive since someone sent a "good" Terminator or Protector back in time to save Sarah Connor as a child and by the time the other Terminator is sent to kill her, she is has already become the legendary warrior mother that we have seen and heard of in all the prior movies.

The movie according to David Ellison, “is not a remake, it’s not a reboot, it’s not a sequel-it’s really a reimagining based on the Cameron source material. Viewers don’t have to be familiar with any of the previous films at all- this is definitely a stand-alone.” With that being said, fans of the franchise will not be disappointed since Terminator Genisys brings back all of the same elements that the first two movies had to offer in terms of action sequences and special effects, all well balanced with a good story and character development. To achieve this, the producers found a director that could pay attention to the action without letting aside the character development and the story. Producer Ellison says, “We knew we had to have a director who cared about character, and the love story of this family. Yes, there’s a lot of action in the Terminator movies and we definitely plan to live up to the promise. There are a lot of people who are great at shooting action, but only a handful or so that we thought could get true character-driven performances in the midst of it all.”

Taylor, whose credits include the fan favorites Game of Thrones and Thor: The Dark World, had very specific ideas and concerns when it came to Terminator Genisys. Ellison explains, “when Alan came in, he said that we could talk about what Terminators are going to look like, and how many of them there are, and the different types, and how the third act fight is going to look like, but the love story and relationships have to work.” And it seems the producers hit it right on, since Taylor manages to deliver a story that not only respects the basic elements that where there in previous movies, but he manages to take it one step further. The sequence when Kyle Reese arrives at 1984 was so carefully planned that it resembled almost in every angle, and in every shot to the very first Terminator, but with a few minor details that are brought in due to the new direction this story was taking.

Emilia Clarke, a frequent collaborator with Taylor who has worked with him in Game of Thrones sees the director’s accomplishment in his honoring the subject matter while giving it relevancy by saying, “Alan manages to get a beautiful marriage of old meets new, but also puts a very sensitive, intelligent spin on it. I think one of his goals with this movie is to ask what is to be truly free as a human being, and the choices these characters have to make in deciding that. I think we are paying a lot of respect to the Terminator that has been before, and bringing it to this new audience today.”

And who better to assess the filmmakers approach in this film than Arnold Schwarzenegger, the original Terminator and the man who has been related to this project since it was first brought to us by James Cameron many years ago. According to Schwarzenegger, the Terminator in this story is different due to the amount of time he has spent in the past surrounded by humans, serving as a guardian and protector to Sarah Connor and learning more and more to become human. The evolution of the character was something that he considered carefully, “I protect Sarah Connor, and anything that is coming close to her, or is threatening her I terminate. So I’m the Terminator in some ways, I’m the Protector in another way. So you have to be very careful in how you play that in each moment. It helped I think that I’ve had daughters. When you grow up, and when you’re father of two daughters, I think you learn a lot including how to be protective. I think that experience helped me a lot.” So this time we not only get to see the cold determined robot, but we also see a more humane aspect of the machine, one that in a sense learns to care about the subject he has been sent to protect.

Schwarzenegger also remembers how it all started so differently, since when he was first approached to be involve in the Terminator movie, it was to play the role of Kyle Reese, “I was approached to play Kyle Reese by Mike Medavoy he said, we have this great project it's kind of an action flick, kind of low budget. James Cameron, you probably have not heard of him but he has done one movie before and this is his second movie as far as we are concerned O. J. Simpson is going to play Terminator so this was kind of the dialogue. I said that’s great, let me get the script, and I got it, I read and it was a really great script. And then I met with James Cameron and during the lunch period with him I started talking more and more about Terminator and how he has to train, and how he has to prepare for this part, and how he has to act like a machine, how he has to practice shooting and he shouldn’t blink, on and on. So James Cameron said, why are you wanting to play Reese, you should be the Terminator. I said no, the Terminator only has 27 lines and I really liked Kyle Reese, he’s the hero. But Cameron said that the most memorable character will be the Terminator.”

Well here we are thirty one years after that very first movie, and “I’ll be back” is still considered to be Schwarzenegger’s most famous line and he is reprising the role for a fourth time on the big screen. Be sure not to miss him again this summer.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in Terminator Genisys on July 1st.