Netflix’s Terminator Series May Already Have Been Quietly Canceled

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I recently watched Terminator Zero, a new anime series that premiered on Netflix in 2024. It’s an eight-episode season and takes place in Japan, but surprisingly, it considers every Terminator movie part of the official story. The showrunner, Mattson Tomlin, has a big vision for this series – he’s already planned out five seasons! It focuses on Malcolm Lee, a scientist who’s building an AI to rival Skynet, and we’re meant to see him raising his children throughout the war and beyond, eventually leading into the familiar future war setting.

It looks like plans for a larger story arc envisioned by creator Tim Miller won’t be happening. According to the website Cancelled Sci Fi, Netflix has quietly cancelled both Terminator Zero and Leviathan. This decision came after Netflix revealed its upcoming shows for 2026, and neither series was included in the announcement. The website also notes that neither show is currently listed in Production Weekly, suggesting that Netflix has ended production on both of them.

Despite generally positive reviews – earning an 87% ‘Fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 79% audience score – the Netflix show Terminator Zero appears unlikely to return for a second season. While the show’s creator, Tomlin, had ideas for future episodes, Netflix didn’t renew it. This is despite Netflix’s tendency to cancel shows, even popular and well-received ones, if they don’t meet certain viewership goals, and Terminator Zero never cracked the Top 10 during its initial summer 2024 release.

The anime series Leviathan quietly premiered on Netflix in 2025. It’s based on Scott Westerfield’s novels, and the first season surprisingly covered the entire book trilogy. The show reimagines World War I as a science fiction steampunk world. Although the main story concluded, there was talk of continuing the series with new adventures, it appears the show has ended after just one season.

Terminator Zero’s Cancellation Leaves Concern About Franchise Future

Terminator Zero aimed to expand the Terminator universe with fresh storylines. While previous attempts, like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, explored this idea, this project allowed the franchise to experiment with anime and set the action in a new location. The story followed Malcolm Lee and his family as they became the target of a Terminator, prompting a soldier from the future to travel back in time to protect them.

Though the new movie follows a familiar pattern from the original – a Terminator sent to eliminate a scientist, and another sent to protect him – it manages to take the story in unexpected and interesting ways. This raises questions about the future of the Terminator series, especially since the last film came out in 2019 and James Cameron is currently planning his next steps after releasing Avatar: Fire and Ash.

I’ve been hearing that James Cameron is planning two more Avatar films, but he’s also got another idea up his sleeve if he decides to move on. He’s apparently been thinking about a complete reboot of the Terminator franchise, and it would be a fresh start with a whole new cast. Interestingly, he doesn’t envision Arnold Schwarzenegger being involved at all. He wants to explore completely new concepts around warfare and artificial intelligence – ideas he says people haven’t even considered yet. I wonder if this potential Terminator project had anything to do with how Terminator Zero ended on Netflix? It’s possible the streaming service didn’t want to go head-to-head with a James Cameron film in theaters.

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2026-01-10 00:11