There’s no denying that The Terminator would have been a wildly different film if its titular antagonist had been played by O.J. Simpson rather than Arnold Schwarzenegger. For many years, there has been a longstanding rumor that Simpson had been originally cast to play the role while Schwarzenegger was envisioned for Michael Biehn’s character, Kyle Reese. Schwarzenegger himself weighed in while speaking with The Independent in 2019, seemingly confirming the rumor while declaring that Simpson was “the first-cast Terminator.”
According to Schwarzenegger at the time, that casting didn’t go through because director James Cameron felt that Simpson was “not as believable for a killing machine.” While Cameron has addressed the rumor as well in the past, the story of Simpson’s casting persists, and in a new interview with Chris Wallace for Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace (via Variety), the director offered some further clarification. While he agrees that a studio head really did approach him about casting Simpson in the role, Cameron says the Naked Gun star was never actually considered for it, as the pitch was not taken seriously. As Cameron explains:
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Orion Pictures
Cameron also commented on the rumor back in 2019. At that time, he said in an L.A. Times interview that the executive who’d pitched Simpson as the Terminator was Orion’s Mike Medavoy. Cameron is also quoted as saying that he and producer Gale Anne Hurd looked at each other as if that was the “stupidest thing we’d ever heard in our lives.” But Cameron also says that after he shut down casting Simpson, he was asked to still meet with Schwarzenegger, who Medavoy suggested for the hero, Kyle Reese. Cameron agreed, though he also insists he never actually offered the role of Reese to Schwarzenegger.
Cameron also suggested that he realized Schwarzenegger would be better for the titular android when he met the “human bulldozer” in person. It’s all history from there, as they say, though Cameron has also suggested that sticking with Schwarzenegger’s Terminator was ultimately what ended up derailing the franchise as well in 2019 with Terminator: Dark Fate bombing in theaters. He claimed that he refused to get involved unless Schwarzenegger also returned as the Terminator, suggesting that it made the film feel like “your granddad’s Terminator movie,” though fans have argued that there are other reasons for the film failing.
In any case, the franchise is on ice, though Cameron has recently teased that there are some talks about potentially making more Terminator. Time will tell if that comes to be.
