‘Terminator 5’ Images Reveal New Looks at the Cyborgs and Humans Alike

Of all of the big sequels opening this summer, Terminator: Genisys is easily the strangest of the bunch. Simultaneously a sequel and a reboot, the film follows the template of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, using time travel to overwrite everything we know about this series so the characters can play in a wild new sandbox. Although we still don’t know the exact shape of that sandbox, a new batch of images from the film give us a look at the players in it, including Arnold Schwarzenegger’s aged Terminator, Emilia Clarke’s Sarah Connor and J.K. Simmons’ Detective O’Brien.

The images were first revealed in Empire and the run the gamut from intriguing to unintentionally amusing. We have a shot of Arnold, looking as tough and imposing as ever despite being old enough to enjoy a meal at Luby’s. We have Emilia Clarke, wielding a pistol that looks bigger than she is. We have the great (and now Oscar-winning) J.K. Simmons, hanging around and classing up the joint.

Most importantly, we have the strangely hilarious image of a Terminator endoskeleton driving some kind of vehicle, looking like a working stiff pulling a nine-to-five so he can put robot bacon on the table. Killer robots: they’re just like us!

Actually, the most intriguing image of the bunch is one that we already saw in the trailer: a young Sarah Connor being carried (to safety?) by a young Terminator. We know it’s young because it has the same hairstyle that Schwarzenegger rocked in the original 1984 film. Man, this movie’s timeline is all kinds of crazy.

And if you’re hoping that the official synopsis will clarify a few things, you are out of luck:

When John Connor (Jason Clarke), leader of the human resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline. Now, Sgt. Reese finds himself in a new and unfamiliar version of the past, where he is faced with unlikely allies, including the Guardian (Arnold Schwarzenegger), dangerous new enemies, and an unexpected new mission: To reset the future…

Terminator: Genisys is set to open on July 1, 2015.