Alan Ritchson Is One Step Closer To Taking Over Schwarzenegger's $2 Billion Action Franchise

Alan Ritchson Is One Step Closer To Taking Over Schwarzenegger’s Billion Action Franchise

From humble beginnings in shows like Smallville and Titans, Alan Ritchson has risen to become one of the premier action stars of the 2020s. The actor catapulted to mainstream attention by tackling the larger-than-life role of Jack Reacher on Prime Video, and has since spread his wings in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Fast & Furious, and Playdate, all of which cemented his all-action persona.

Ritchson’s next effort is War Machine, which sees a squad of Army Rangers unexpectedly encounter a machine… of war. With the threat clearly alien in nature, the Rangers become humanity’s first line of defense against this seemingly invincible contraption. If War Machine is a successful venture for Ritchson, however, it could take him one step closer to becoming Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successor in the Terminator franchise.

Alan Ritchson Has Been Touted As A Possible New Star For The Terminator Franchise

Terminator has been struggling on the big screen since the 2000s, but despite Terminator: Dark Fate‘s lukewarm reviews and underwhelming box office, another cinematic outing is in the pipeline, with James Cameron actively working on Terminator 7.

At this point, it’s quite clear Arnold Schwarzenegger has run his course as the T-800, and for the franchise to have any chance of succeeding into the future, it’s finally time for Arnie to not “be back.” Both James Cameron and Arnie himself have admitted as much. But this is still Terminator, and the next chapter will require an intimidating cyborg villain of some description – the kind of villain only a specific type of actor can pull off.

With Alan Ritchson already playing a walking mountain who cuts through enemies like butter and barely says a word in Reacher, it’s hardly surprising that his name has been mentioned in the Terminator conversation as a potential Schwarze-successor. This is an especially exciting proposition because Ritchson is the kind of actor who could carry not just one Terminator movie, but an entire series, and could do so as either the hero or the villain.

With War Machine, Alan Ritchson Takes Another Step Toward Becoming The New Terminator

Alan Ritchson looking worried in his army gear in War Machine.

As two movies that feature a group of soldiers in an isolated setting stumbling across something powerful, alien, and intent on picking them off one by one, the similarities between War Machine and Predator are not subtle. And it’s Alan Ritchson in Schwarzenegger’s old “Dutch” role, leading his people to fight an extra-terrestrial enemy with the odds stacked against them.

With Prey and Predator: Badlands, the Predator franchise is currently heading in a positive direction – the polar opposite of Terminator in terms of successfully rejuvenating itself for a modern audience. Nevertheless, War Machine will provide the first real test of Alan Ritchson’s Terminator credentials, as it’s his first movie directly comparable to an iconic Arnold Schwarzenegger character.

War Machine will be a perfect demonstration of Alan Ritchson‘s ability to capture those key Arnie-isms, to match his cinematic presence, and to reinvent one of Schwarzenegger’s famous characters for the 2020s. Should he succeed, it becomes difficult to see anyone else as the leading candidate to take the main cyborg gig in Terminator 7.