Matt Smith to play a new character in Terminator 5

Matt Smith to play a new character with a strong connection to John Connor in Terminator reboot

Terminator: Genesis is directed by Alan Taylor and also stars Game of Thrones’s Emilia Clarke. It’s slated for release on 1 July 2015.

Following the announcement last week that Matt Smith has been cast in the new Terminator movie reboot, sci-fi fans can at least stop speculating about the possibility that the former Doctor Who star might be taking on the role of resistance leader John Connor in Earth’s dystopian, machine-ruled future.

Smith is instead expected to play a completely original character in Terminator: Genesis, who will nevertheless have links to John. “Smith will play a new character with a strong connection to John Connor,” says a release from Paramount Pictures.

Whether that makes him a fellow resistance fighter or a relative of John’s remans to be seen but it also rules out the possibility of him starring as John’s father Kyle (played by Michael Bein in the original Terminator movie).

So could Smith be playing a cyborg alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger? If so, it’s fair to say he’s likely to be closer to Robert Patrick’s Judgment Day T-1000 model than Arnie’s original Terminator – the gangly former Time Lord would have to pump a lot of iron to get anywhere near Schwarzenegger’s size…