Destiny is a terrible burden. Just ask John Connor. Ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator first zapped down to Earth in his birthday suit 31 years ago, fans of the franchise have relied on the idea of John Connor as the savior of the human race. But in Terminator Genisys, Connor’s heroism is less certain. And that mystery made Jason Clarke (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) excited to take on the iconic character. “The script expands on our preconceived notions of who John Connor is,” he says. “So I knew I couldn’t just show up and lay down some hard military guy. There’s a lot more going on than that.”

The time-travel-heavy plot toggles between 1984, 2017, and 2029 and introduces both a new Sarah Connor (Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke) and a new Kyle Reese (Insurgent’s Jai Courtney). The filmmakers also pay homage to the original Terminator with a re-creation of Schwarzenegger’s naked arrival scene. The goal was to remind audiences what they love about these movies—which, according to Schwarzenegger, who reprises his role in Genisys, all comes down to the title character. “How cool is it not to feel pain? How cool is it to be like a machine?” he says. “You can be indestructible. It’s a heroic character. I think people admire all this stuff.” Not that he’s biased.