‘Terminator Zero’ Canceled After One Season at Netflix, Creator Reveals

The Netflix anime series “Terminator Zero” has been canceled after one season.

“The critical and audience reception to it was tremendous, but at the end of the day not nearly enough people watched it,” series creator Mattson Tomlin wrote on his official X (formerly Twitter) account. “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.”

“Maybe someday I’ll do a big thread about the plans I had for the full five season run,” he continued. “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.”

News that the series would not be returning is not altogether surprising, given that it originally debuted in August 2024 with no word on a renewal since then. Still, this is the first official confirmation that the project would not be back for Season 2.

Set in the “Terminator” universe established by the blockbuster film franchise, the logline for the show states, “Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.”

The English language voice cast of the show included André Holland, Sonoya Mizuno, Sumalee Montano, Gideon Adlon, Armani Jackson, Carter Rockwood, Rosario Dawson, and Timothy Olyphant. The Japanese voice cast included Yūya Uchida, Toa Yukinari, Saori Hayami, Hiro Shimono, Miyuki Sato, Shizuka Ishigami, Atsumi Tanezaki, and Yasuhiro Mamiya.

Tomlin developed the series and served as showrunner and executive producer. Japanese animator Masashi Kudo directed the series. Additional executive producers included David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger via Skydance. Production IG was the animation studio.