EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and Skydance are down to the wire on the final piece of iconic casting on Terminator: Genesis. I’m hearing that it’s between Jai Courtney and Boyd Holbrook to play Kyle Reese, the role originated by Michael Biehn in the James Cameron-directed original. Now, they could throw someone else into the mix, but it sounds like they are focused on these guys. The winner will join Arnold Schwarzenegger as the signature cyborg, Game Of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke as Sara Connor and Zero Dark Thirty’s Jason Clarke as her son John Connor in the time travel saga that will be directed by Thor: The Dark World helmer Alan Taylor. The film will be released July 1, 2015.

Related: Megan Ellison Won’t Fund ‘Terminator’ Revival; David Ellison, Paramount Paying

It’s a big job, as it figures to span at least two movies that will end the story of Skynet’s battle with the resistance that began with Cameron’s two films with two more that followed. The films are being financed one-third by Paramount, and two-thirds by David Ellison’s Skydance, who bought out the stake held by his sister, Annapurna’s Megan Ellison. She was the one who originally bought the rights to continue the franchise for about $20 million. She decided to focus on tastemaker fare but this movie is right in the wheelhouse of the popcorn pics made by Skydance, which partners with Paramount on Mission: Impossible, Star Trek and World War Z.

Courtney is coming off Jack Reacher and A Good Day To Die Hard, and will next be seen in Divergent and he shot the Angelina Jolie-directed Unbroken and Russell Crowe-helmed The Water Diviner. Holbrook’s upcoming films include the David Fincher-directed Gone Girl, the Scott Frank-helmed A Walk Among The Tombstones and the Gavin O’Connor-directed Jane Got A Gun.