EW Interview with Terminator Salvation Producers

Excerpt from and interview between Entertainment Weekly and Terminator Salvation producers, Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek:

EW: There's been a lot of conflicting information about Bale's role in Salvation — including reports that he'll be playing the Terminator himself. Was this just the rumor mill spinning out of control yet again?
DEREK ANDERSON: There's a hugely engaged fan base for this mythology. There are over a million fan sites out there. And they've been really waiting for this next installment, so as soon as word got out [that Bale was being considered], everybody started speculating: Is he the Terminator? Is he John Connor? Is it a new role that we haven't seen in the franchise in the past? Where that came from, we're not really sure. But he was always being considered for Connor.

The other rumor was that Connor was only going to be a supporting role.
ANDERSON: John Connor is an ongoing, very central character throughout the next trilogy.
VICTOR KUBICEK: Exactly. The mythology, really at the root of it, is the birth of the hero. John Connor is this modern-day, messianic figure that is going to lead our franchise forward.
ANDERSON: He's leading the fight for the salvation of humanity against the machines. So he's very important.

So he's the star?
KUBICEK: Yes.
ANDERSON: There's gonna be another major costar with kind of equal presence in this installment.

And that costar would play the Terminator character?
ANDERSON: Yes.... Well, it's hard to say. It is a new character introduced in the mythology that's not replacing Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. It's not like he's stepping into Arnold's shoes. It's a completely new character.

Okay, but is it a Terminator — a killing machine?
ANDERSON: No, not really. That's one of the big twists that if we told you —

You'd have to kill me?
KUBICEK: [Laughs] Yes.
ANDERSON: It would ruin the story for you. But there's an element of humanity to it. It's a bit different.

Not to beat a dead horse, but is the new figure Connor's enemy?
KUBICEK: The other lead character is a new figure. [Anderson laughs] And it's questionable if he's an enemy or not. That's not necessarily resolved.
ANDERSON: It's a really interesting time in the franchise because it's where all the fans have always wanted the franchise to go, and it hasn't to date, which is the post-apocalyptic world. It's after judgment day. So because we're in a different time in the mythology, it introduces a whole new set of circumstances and characters.