He’ll be back.

Yes, it’s an old joke, but who could’ve known how prophetic that iconic line from The Terminator would prove to be. After skipping the Christian Bale/Sam Worthington-led fourth installment, everyone’s favorite former governor will return for Terminator 5.

One has to wonder how this is going to be played in the story. The Arnold was 37 when the original Terminator released; he will be 66 at the end of next month. Do Terminators age? I guess (canonically speaking) that is living flesh on the outside of the robotic skeleton. Still…

T5 is being written Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Alexander) and Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry, Dracula 2000) and already has distribution lined up with Paramount. It is still looking for a director and, of course, the rest of the cast. Production is being planned next January.

If fans have anything to be encouraged about, it’s certainly got to be the involvement of Annapurna Pictures. Although a new company, Annapurna is already making a name for itself. It was the production company on The Master and Zero Dark Thirty, both of which saw play last awards season, was behind the well-received Depression-era crime thriller Lawless (also released last year), and is behind Spike Jonze’s Her and David O. Russell’s American Hustle, both  of which are looking very strong going into releases later this year.