Warner Brothers announced that Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, the fourth installment in the SF franchise, began production on May 5 in Albuquerque, N.M., and offered new details about the movie's storyline and cast.
McG is directing the movie, which stars Sam Worthington and Christian Bale as an adult John Connor, based on a script by Michael Ferris and John Brancato (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines).
Warner also offered new details about the film, which is set in post-apocalyptic 2018. Bale's Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators.
But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.
The film also stars Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, Charlotte Gainsbourg as Kate Connor, Moon Bloodgood as Blair Williams, Common as Barnes and Jadagrace as Star.
Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is envisioned as the first film in a new Terminator trilogy and is slated for release on May 22, 2009.