Like so many futuristic robots made of liquid metal and disguised as police officers, Terminator: Genesis is looking for a particular boy. No, not John Connor; they already found him. This time they’re looking for Attack The Block’s John Boyega to join this latest attempt to reinvigorate the Terminator series.
The news originated with a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit, who reports that director Alan Taylor is hoping to cast Boyega as the son of Miles Dyson, the scientist who accidentally doomed the human race in Terminator 2 by reverse-engineering the leftover robot arm from the first movie. The snag, however, is that Boyega is also among those in talks to play a major role in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars sequels. In a situation that’s certainly familiar to us all, Boyega can’t take one really cool job until he finds out if he’ll get that other really cool job—but either way, he’s going to get a really cool job. Famous people are just like us!
If Boyega does miss his chance to hang out with Jar Jar Binks, Wicket, and whatever other beloved Star Warriors are set to return in Episode VII, he’ll join Emilia Clarke and Jason Clarke (no relation) who will be playing Sarah and John Connor (who are related, though it remains to be seen why John is twice his mother’s age in this movie). A certain Austrian killbot is also set to make an appearance, and as reported yesterday, thanks to sci-fi’s love of casually dismissing things that don’t make any sense, nobody will be confused why this one Terminator looks like an old man.
As for Boyega, like the rest of us, he’ll just be patiently waiting for Abrams to stop dragging his feet and make some damn Star Wars casting announcements already so we can all get on with our lives.