Jai Courtney Joins TERMINATOR GENESIS As Kyle Reese

Paramount has found the man who will play John Connor’s father; or his protégé depending on what year you’re from. Jai Courtney (Spartacus, Divergent) has been cast as Kyle Reese in the upcoming Terminator Genesis. He joins Emilia Clarke,  Jason Clarke and Arnold Schwarzenegger in the upcoming reboot directed by Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones). Courtney is the third actor to play Reese after Michael Biehn and Anton Yelchin. The film will be the first in a standalone trilogy.

Like the original movies, Terminator Genesis is will follow man’s struggle against the computer system Skynet and its army of Terminators. Although it’s a reboot, the film will likely follow the original and have Kyle Reese traveling to the past to protect Sara Connor from being killed. No word yet on whether Arnold Schwarzenegger will reprise his role as the main Terminator, although at his age, he should probably let one of the newer model Terminators take the assignment.

He definitely doesn’t look like this anymore.

Not having seen any of Courtney’s previous roles, I can’t comment on how well he’ll do, but as usual I’ll hope for the best. Since Kyle Reese is the father of John Connor in the first Terminator, it’s likely that he’ll be siring the future resistance leader in the reboot as well. However, since this film will be part of a trilogy, does this increase his odds of survival? As a reboot, Genesis isn’t required to strictly every element from the originals, so perhaps he’ll live and get to watch little John grow up. This would allow for a new narrative in the second film and not just have it be a rehash of T2: Judgement Day.

Naw, that would probably rip a hole in the space time continuum, especially if Kyle somehow interacted with his past self…or is it his future self? Time travel: guaranteed to give anybody a headache.

SOURCE: Variety