10 Things You Need To Know About Terminator: Genisys

9. The Ageing Of The T-800 (Arnold's Terminator)

Interestingly enough, although he's not even on board Terminator: Genisys as even a producer, one of the biggest concepts in the fifth film came from James Cameron himself: the fact that Arnold's T-800 can age. Externally, at least. See, the T-800s (unlike the liquid metal T-1000) are living flesh over titanium endoskeleton. In the film's lore (going back to Cameron's movies), Skynet originally tried covering the endoskeletons with synthetic material (like rubber) to infiltrate human camps, but they were too easy to spot. So they switched to organic - in other words, actual flesh. When it came time to start production on a fifth film with an Arnold in his sixties, the producers went to Cameron, who suggestion they take advantage of this oft-forgotten fact. Speaking to Deadline at The Terminator's 30th Anniversary, he noted

I pointed out that the outer covering was actually not synthetic, that it was organic and therefore could age. You could theoretically have a Terminator that was sent back in time, missed his target, and ended up just kind of living on in society. Because he is a learning computer and has a brain as a central processor he could actually become more human as he went along without getting discovered.

There's a good chance fans will be seeing just that in Terminator: Genisys, as even in the trailer, Arnold noticeably ages, with his hair white in some scenes, but darker in others.