Terminator Zero, the Netflix anime series based on James Cameron’s iconic franchise, may have been quietly canceled in early 2026. The news, initially raised by the specialized website Cancelled Sci Fi, comes after the streaming platform released its list of originals for the year and the production, launched in 2024, is not included in the plans. Originally planned as a five-season series, showrunner Mattson Tomlin’s project aimed to expand the war against the machines universe in Japan, but, due to low viewership numbers, it appears to have been concluded after its initial eight episodes.
Despite receiving positive reviews, achieving an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the series never entered Netflix’s global Top 10 during its summer 2024 release. This low performance, as a result of the platform’s known policy of canceling productions that do not meet specific viewership metrics, seems to have sealed the fate of Terminator Zero. Meanwhile, another production, the animation Leviathan, which adapted a book trilogy in 2025, was also left out of this year’s release list, indicating a similar end.
The Future of the Franchise and the Series’ Legacy
Mattson Tomlin had ambitious plans for the series, which would follow scientist Malcolm Lee and his children through a temporal war against Skynet. The animation was set in Japan and treated all films in the franchise as canon, offering a new perspective on the saga. However, the quiet cancellation interrupts this vision, leaving fans without answers about the characters’ fate.
This scenario unfolds at a time of uncertainty for the future of Terminator as a whole. The last film in the series is from 2019, and James Cameron himself, the original creator, has already stated he has ideas for a possible franchise reboot. In other words, he intends to reset the continuity and present new ideas about war and artificial intelligence, without the participation of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Therefore, it is speculated that Netflix’s decision may, in some way, be linked to these future cinematic plans, avoiding potential narrative competition.
Thus, Brazilian fans of the genre are left, for now, only with the series’ first season, available in the catalog, and the expectation about which direction the fight against the machines will take next. The story of Terminator continues, but its next chapter on the small screen remains an unknown.
