Last summer, IGN and several other outlets paid a visit to the NASA set of Terminator Genisys in New Orleans, where we got a firsthand look at Paramount's sci-fi thriller. There, we got to chat with some of the cast, including Arnold Schwarzenegger (T-800), Jason Clarke (John Connor), Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor) and Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese). We also sat down with director Alan Taylor and some of the crew to learn more about Genisys and its place in the Terminator franchise.

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What is Terminator Genisys?

The day we were there (about three months into production), Taylor and company were shooting a scene with Schwarzenegger, Courtney and Emilia. The set was a control room at Cyberdyne, set in 2017, with a state-of-the-art Time Displacement Device (TDD) in the center of the room. According to the producers, this was a third-act scene, so I'll spare you the "how" and "why" our heroes end up there. But even from the weathered look of the actors -- particularly Arnie, whose T-800 character was looking pretty scuffed up at this point -- it was clear it was late in the game.In between takes, we also got a glimpse at a couple other TDDs, all from different points in time. This gave us our first clue as to how Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese and the T-800 might travel between different time periods...Terminator Genisys starts in 2029 -- the same year the original Terminator begins -- only when Kyle gets to Sarah's time in 1984, he discovers things are... off. Suddenly, Kyle finds himself in a version of the past he's not prepared for, going on a different mission with different allies, different enemies and different circumstances.

Terminator Genisys: Reboot, Sequel or Something Else?

On set, a Skydance exec filled us in on some of the details. "It's not a traditional remake, nor is it a continuation or a sequel, nor is it exactly a reboot," he said. "In a sense, it's a reimagining -- and it certainly follows the same kind of logic as J.J. Abrams' [Star Trek], which is that the beauty of any world where you have time travel is that you can introduce pivotal, different events that then fracture off on a whole new timeline and let you explore how things would have happened if one major thing had gone differently."The exec continued, "The movie will take place in more than just 1984. I don't think any one of [the time periods] clearly dominates the entire movie. There is critical action in the future, and there is critical action in the past... Remember, the weird thing about transformative time events [is], it's like a butterfly effect thing. If one significant thing happened differently, then the entire sequence of events in 1984 could play out entirely differently, which means it maybe never came to," say, "the same police station confrontation."

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Return of the Big Guy

“ It's not just 'Let's exploit this franchise and live off of some of the great ones that we'd done in the past.' They really took it seriously.

Genisys is also meant to be the start of a new Terminator trilogy, using the original Terminator and T2 as the template, while pretty much ignoring the latter two films. "The first two are just completely our compass, our inspiration and our guide," Taylor explained to us. "We can't be what they are. The key element in the first two films that I envy is the incredible simplicity. It was somebody you really cared about in peril every minute in both those movies. It was a very small, contained source of suspense."We don't have the same simplicity," he said, "because we're trying to do a lot. We're trying to bridge the things that have existed in the mythology before and be true to it, while launching something new. So there's a kind of complexity that comes with that, that I think is part of the defining quality of this movie."As Taylor noted, the first two Terminator movies had very simple, relatable themes. "The first film was a love story; it was also a horror film," the director went on. "The second one was a father/son story, but it was also a beautifully built thriller. The fact that he's taking a solid genre and putting powerful family stuff into it is the challenge we're trying to rise to."As for Genesys? "I think it's a dysfunctional family [story], but the father theme plays really strongly in ours. We have mirroring father figures in this that have to be dealt with, and they are very difficult relationships. Again, there is a love story at the core of it. Outside of that, there is the issue of family. I guess we're trying to draw on things that were present in both the first two films."Of course, the most notable thing about Terminator Genisys is they got Schwarzenegger to reprise his iconic role as the T-800. (The actor has also said he's in for the next two sequels .) But as for what brought him back to the franchise, the actor said it all came down to the story Skydance pitched him.Throughout the series, the T-800 has been a good guy and a bad guy, depending on how he's programmed, but, as we've seen from the trailers, this T-800 is taking a cue from his T2 counterpart. "It's a character that has been programmed to protect them, to protect Sarah Connor," Schwarzenegger explained. That said, "I'm basically the same Terminator: I will destroy anything that's in front of me in order to save her."

Connor Family 2.0

Hasta la vista, baby.

“ There's a great dynamic between Kyle and Sarah... I think it's really interesting how all the characters in this feel a different way about one another.

Schwarzenegger knows fan expectations are high, but he's confident Genisys is getting it right. "The key thing is to give the people more than they can even anticipate," he said. "That's why it's very important -- I think everyone recognizes it -- that this movie delivers: the story, the creativity, the twists, all that stuff. On every level, it has to deliver. The right team has been assembled to do that I think."The actor continued, "I know we have to outdo T2. The director knows that. The producers know it. The studio knows it. I think everyone is in sync with that -- that, visual effects-wise, we have to outdo the second one, because it was so far ahead of its time. So that's the idea, to come out with a movie with a big bang and to entertain audiences all around the world."Suffice to say, Jason, Emilia and Courtney had big shoes (and sneakers and combat boots) to fill when it came to playing their respective characters -- especially since there hasn't been a Terminator movie in almost six years. But like the Connors themselves, the Genisys stars were up to the task.For Emilia, it was "exciting more than intimidating" to play Sarah Connor. "We're taking on something that is legendary and beautiful in itself," she said. "What we are doing is incredibly exciting and different, and kind of embracing what has already happened but getting the opportunity to create something new, which is always fun."Emilia's part was particularly interesting since she was playing a character her Game of Thrones co-star Lena Heady had played in the short-lived Sarah Connor Chronicles. When asked if she went to Heady for any tips, the actress said, "Yeah, yeah. [Game of Thrones writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss] keep wanting us to fight. So maybe that will happen -- I don't know, take each other on. Yes. We've had a bit of banter about it."Courtney, meanwhile, said he went back and re-watched the Terminator movies for inspiration but wanted to do his own thing when playing Kyle Reese. "I don't know that there needs to be an emphasis on trying to do what Michael Biehn did with it in 1984," he said. "What's the point of that? I'm a different actor, so the performance is going to be different. The character is the same. You've still got the same kind of setup."Jason, on the other hand, looked closely at Eddie Furlong, the young John Connor in T2, for his own portrayal of John. "There's not just Arnold, the Terminator, and technology," he said. "There are all these other things that we look for: fulfilling prophecy, fulfilling destiny, responsibility. That's why I looked at Eddie Furlong a lot... That's one of the most exciting things I think, is going, 'Who really is John Connor? And what is it to be that?' When you have a battle against machines -- which are ourselves in a way; we created them -- there's always something that lies at the heart of that, and I think John's very much at the center of it."

Continued on Page 2, as we discuss Future War garb, updating sci-fi and Terminator sequels...