The story broke this past Saturday reported by the New York Daily News, that executives at Paramount Pictures have decided not to pick up their option to bring the sixth Terminator film to cinemas across the world. It was first embraced as good news to fans, but now, after a swell of misinformation, some Terminator fans have grown concerned in regards to the future of T6. Well, we are here to calm those fears.

The news that Paramount Pictures is opting out to do another Terminator sequel has nothing to do with the James Cameron produced “Terminator 6” under development, with Tim Miller in negotiations to direct. What Paramount Pictures actually forfeited is their option on making a sequel to “Terminator Genisys”.

“Terminator Genisys” was made by Skydance and Paramount Pictures. Even though Skydance was the sole rights owner of the Terminator film franchise, Skydance and Paramount struck a co-producing and co-financing deal that not only encompassed the making of “Terminator Genisys”, but two planned sequels that would follow it.

Originally scheduled for release on May 19, 2017 (Terminator 6) and June 29, 2018 (Terminator 7), due to negative critical reception and lackluster domestic box-office receipts, Paramount lost faith in the Terminator franchise and pulled the Genisys sequels off their distribution calendar.

As with all co-financing contacts, this deal was built with a time limit to protect the rights owner (Skydance) from just “dangling in the wind“, waiting years for a new movie to go into production (that simply never does). And the time limit agreed upon with this Terminator deal between Skydance and Paramount simply reached its expiration date.

So this means there will be no official sequels to “Terminator Genisys” and actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jason Clarke, and Jai Courtney have been let out of their multi-picture contract commitments.

We repeat, this does not mean that the current “Terminator 6” under development with James Cameron is cancelled. Paramount Pictures forfeiting their option on a sequel to “Terminator Genisys” actually enables Skydance now to make a new Terminator co-financing deal with another studio (like the rumored 20th Century Fox for instance).

This also doesn’t mean actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will, or will not, be back. That will be decided by the writers, producers, director, and Arnold himself (if those rumors are true that he is considering running for political office again in 2018.)

What timeline Cameron’s new Terminator film will take place in… (The original timeline? The Genisys timeline? A brand new timeline?)… is anyone’s guess.

We hope that clarifies all your questions Terminator fans! “Terminator 6” is not cancelled!

We’ll be back.