Terminator 4 Salvation Begins Shooting

Welcome to 2018.

This rendering of the post-apocalyptic, nuclear blast-devastated cityscape in Los Angeles is the concept art for the newly extended arm of the Terminator franchise, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

The wretched landscape delivers an early glimpse into a grim future ruled by blood-thirsty bots. Dark Knight Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the leader of the human resistance against the army of terrifying Terminators.

This early art isn't much, but it sounds like the visual effects are only going to get better. Dare I say it could be as mind-bogglingly badass as the morphing silver skeleton action from T2?

" Everything we’re shooting is designed to be tactile and real, you’ll be seeing a whole set of inspired designs you've never seen before, and best of all you'll finally get to see some of the post-judgment day future that was only hinted at in the previous movies," wrote director McG on the site.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, from avant auteur Michel Gondry's Science of Sleep, has been tapped to star alongside Bale. In this fourth installment of the cyborg series, Gainsbourg plays Connor's wife, who according to the Terminator 'verse, originally sent back a machine programmed to save John from assassination.

The Connors (along with all of humanity) are still on their primary mission -- to stop Skynet from destroying humans -- but amnesia-riddled figure Marcus Wright, played by Sam Worthington, throws a wrench into the mix. Sci-fi blog io9 also points out that we'll be seeing all kinds of crazy killing machines, including vintage cyborgs and a souped-up model with an exaggerated exoskeleton.

The highly anticipated next installment drops us into the story 14 years before John's death in 2032 -- leaving plenty of wiggle room for sequels. Terminator Salvation is slated to hit theaters May 22, 2009.

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