Judgment Day is rapidly approaching, but instead of a nuclear apocalypse, fans of the Terminator movies have a much cheerier surprise in store: the anticipated release of Terminator Zero, the first-ever animated iteration of the beloved sci-fi franchise . Leading up to the show's Netflix debut on Aug. 29, showrunner Mattson Tomlin sat down with us to dive behind the scenes of the project, from his casting thought process to how he balanced fans' hopes for the series with his own desire to make the show unique from its source material.
Terminator Zero remains rooted in the pre-existing world established by other Terminator films but with a few caveats: for starters, the anime series is set in Tokyo and centers around an entirely new cast of characters . Tomlin's reimagining of the franchise follows Japanese scientist Malcolm Lee and his three children, who find themselves targeted by a robot assassin after Lee develops a new AI system named Kokoro to compete with Skynet. Recent weeks leading up to the series' release were especially tumultuous after a major Netflix security breach caused all eight episodes of Terminator Zero to be leaked online along with other upcoming animes like Dandadan and Ranma 1/2.
Dodge the spoilers, if you can, and make sure to report accounts spreading leaked information — believe us, this action-packed series deserves to be watched in high resolution, as its animators originally intended. Read on for our full interview with Tomlin, and be sure to .