Matt Smith Joins Terminator: Genesis

This morning, Deadline posted a story that gave me a good solid moment of , “huh, really?”  Not in a bad way, but in a…well, that’s an interesting choice.  I mean we KNOW how he looks with a shaved bald head, but I would think if they wanted a former Doctor with the chops to be in the reboot of the Terminator series (which is already being called a trilogy, by the way) that they should go with Chris Eccleston or something.

The other names we KNOW are attached to the project are Emilia Clarke (Sarah Connor), Zero Dark Thirty’s Jason Clarke (John Connor), Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese), Dayo Okeniyi (Danny Dyson, son of the brainiac cyborg developer played by Joe Morton in Terminator: Judgment Day), and the Governator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger returning.

Here is the official announcement in full:

HOLLYWOOD, CA (May 1, 2014) – Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions announced today that Doctor Who star Matt Smith will join the cast of the upcoming TERMINATOR reboot.

Smith will play a new character with a strong connection to John Connor, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi and Byung Hun Lee.

Alan Taylor is directing the film from a screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance Productions are producing. Skydance’s Paul Schwake, Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison, Kalogridis and Lussier are executive producing.

Smith is best known for playing The Doctor on the popular Doctor Who television series during the 2011-2103 seasons. His other television credits include Christopher and His Kind, Moses Jones, and “he Street. He can be seen next on the big screen in LOST RIVER, directed by Ryan Gosling, alongside Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Eva Mendes.

He is represented by United Talent Agency and Michael Duff at Troika.

The TERMINATOR franchise launched in 1984 with Schwarzenegger as the title character and spanned three subsequent films, which have earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Paramount will distribute the film worldwide on July 1, 2015.