With Judgement Day quickly approaching, Netflix has set the voice cast for its upcoming “Terminator” anime series “Terminator Zero.”
The cast includes Rosario Dawson, André Holland, Sonoya Mizuno and Ann Dowd, who join the already-announced Timothy Olyphant in the title role.
Dawson will voice Kokoro, an “advanced AI and Japan’s answer to Skynet. If brought online, Kokoro will be endowed with the same power as Skynet. Kokoro must calculate for itself: is humanity the plague Skynet believes? Or are human beings worth saving?” Holland portrays Malcolm Lee, a “genius computer programmer and father of three. Lee is haunted by prophetic nightmares of an apocalyptic future. He’s spent the last decade creating a secret artificial intelligence that he believes will be humanity’s last hope.” Mizuno, currently seen in “House of the Dragon,” is Eiko, who is “coming from a post-Judgement Day 2022. Eiko is a resistance fighter sent back in time to stop Malcolm from launching Kokoro.” And Dowd is The Prophet, “the philosophical guide for the human resistance, a light shepherding survivors in the darkness of the unknown future ahead.” (All of this according to the official synopsis.)
“Terminator Zero” was created and executive produced by Mattson Tomlin, who worked on “The Batman” and its upcoming sequel. It is also executive produced by Skydance. The eight-episode series features animation from the legendary Japanese animation studio Production I.G.
While the press notes claim that it’s the first animated iteration of the franchise, they are forgetting about “Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series,” a somewhat shoddily animated web series that was released in conjunction with “Terminator Salvation” in 2009.
The last live-action “Terminator” entry was 2019’s “Terminator: Dark Fate,” directed by Tim Miller, which saw the return of both Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger to the franchise.
“Terminator Zero” premieres on Judgement Day — Aug. 29 — on Netflix.
