Mattson Tomlin explains the main reason behind cancellation of 'Terminator Zero': 'Netflix was really...'
'Terminator Zero,' the sci-fi anime series set within James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd's 'Terminator' universe, premiered on August 29, 2024, on Netflix. However, bad news followed right after its debut season. On February 13, Mattson Tomlin announced on his official X account that Netflix had cancelled the series after Season 1. Tomlin developed the eight-part series and also served as its writer and showrunner. Furthermore, he executive-produced the animated series alongside David Ellison from Skydance, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger. Skydance Television and Netflix Animation Studio produced the series, while the animation was handled by Production I.G under the direction of Masashi Kudō.
Netflix was really great about supporting the show and giving me tremendous creative freedom to do what I wanted to do. Good partners. The show was expensive and very time consuming. The only way they could justify it was if the audience showed up for it, and they just didn’t. https://t.co/psEDbh5tcZ pic.twitter.com/EtRKLh5SH1
— mattson tomlin (@mattsontomlin) February 13, 2026
He continued, “The critical and audience reception to it was tremendous, but at the end of the day, not nearly enough people watched it. I would’ve loved to deliver on the Future War I had planned in season's 2 and 3, but I’m also very happy with how it feels contained as is.” It has been about 18 months since the show premiered, and there has been no news of a renewal. So, its cancellation doesn't come as much of a surprise. The show's low ratings were a major factor in its early demise, as 'Terminator Zero' didn’t break into Netflix's Top 10 global series chart in the weeks following its release. Also, it didn't appear in Nielsen’s streaming rankings for the United States.
'Terminator Zero' was the first series to deliver the story set within the 'Terminator' franchise in the form of anime. The story is split into two timelines and picks up after the events of the 1991 film, 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day.' In 1997, Skynet developed self-awareness and waged a war against humanity that lasted until 2022. The resistance soldier Eiko travels from 2022 to 1997 to protect the scientist Malcolm Lee and his three kids from the Terminator and prevent his invention, the Kokoro AI, from being launched. The show's synopsis, per Netflix, reads: "A warrior from a post-apocalyptic future travels to 1997 to protect an AI scientist being hunted by an unfeeling — and indestructible — cyborg."
In another post, Tomlin added that the streamer had offered his team “2, maybe 3 more episodes to wrap up the story," but said that he refused. "I felt the story I wanted to tell was much longer, and the finale of season one actually left things in a good place," he explained. Tomlin also revealed that he had mapped out the series for a five-season arc. “Maybe someday I’ll do a big thread about the plans I had for the full five season run. The series finale was special, and it was part of my pitch to get the job. I’ve written all of the season two scripts and outlined pretty much all of season three…Maybe I will return to that world in a different form. I really do love it, and it was extremely gratifying to see so many people connect with it the way they did,” he said on X.
The English-language cast of 'Terminator Zero' features Andre Holland as the voice of Malcolm Lee, Sonoya Mizuno as the resistance soldier Eiko, Sumalee Montano as Misaki, Armani Jackson as Kenta Lee, Gideon Adlon as Reika Lee, Carter Rockwood as Hiro Lee, Rosario Dawson as Kokoro, and Timothy Olyphant as The Terminator.
