Edward Furlong as John Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
Netflix’s “Arnold” docuseries is an eye-opening look at Arnold Schwarzenegger’s life and career, with the star being honest about having an affair, and opening up about some of his biggest movies.
The “Terminator” franchise gets plenty of attention, with Schwarzenegger and director James Cameron discussing O.J. Simpson initially being up for his role, as well as Linda Hamilton being “more cut” than the Austrian actor.
The docuseries also briefly explores why the 75-year-old actor was initially “against” the sequel “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” which Cameron says was because his robot character, the T-800, didn’t kill anyone in the script.
“At first, Arnold was absolutely against the idea,” recalled Cameron. “Arnold and I were going to meet and talk about the script. So I sit down and I can see he’s not his usual cheerful self. I go, ‘What’s the matter? You don’t like it?’ He goes, ‘Jim… I don’t kill anybody.’”
Cameron said that he explained to Schwarzenegger that the sequel would switch up the dynamic between his character and John Connor (Edward Furlong) from the first movie. This time, he said, the T-800’s job was to protect John, not kill him.
“‘Now you’re the good guy, now you’re the defender, you’re the protector,’” Cameron recalled telling the actor.
“He said, ‘Okay, alright. Can I shoot them in the leg?’ I said, ‘Yeah, let’s just shoot them in the leg. How’s that?’ He goes, ‘No, that’s good.’”
Schwarzenegger also discussed the progression of the T-800 character in the sequel, saying: “Whenever you do a sequel, you cannot just do the same story.”
“In ‘Terminator 1,’ I was this evil machine that just destroyed anyone and everyone who came in my path. And in the second one, I say, ‘I swear I will not kill anyone,’” he added.
“Arnold” is now streaming on Netflix.
Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider’s parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.