Much like bands eventually go back to their roots, so will the Terminator.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has appeared in all five Terminator films, knows how to fix the franchise with the forthcoming Tim Miller-directed sequel that reunites him with James Cameron.

According to the star, the franchise has become overly complicated. The plan with the next is to ignore all sequels past the Cameron-directed Judgment Day and remove all the corrupt and confusing mythology.

“I think Cameron and Miller came up with a concept where they can continue on with the T-800 but make a whole new movie,” he told the UK Business Insider. “What they are doing now with this one is basically to just take a few very basic characters, like Linda Hamilton’s character and my character, and dismiss everything else. Just move away from all these rules of the timeline and other characters.”

But it’s more than just simplifying the story, Schwarzenegger says the sequels totally fucked the Terminator by making him too human and ignoring the simple concept behind its existence.

“I think the T-800 model is a really interesting character,” he explained. “He’s a machine, can be destructive, can do things human beings can’t do, but at the same time when newer technology comes along the character suddenly is vulnerable and that makes him even more interesting.” Schwarzenegger said that, on top of the story being confusing, it made his T-800 character feel less vulnerable and more like “an ordinary guy who suddenly gets activated again.”

It’s really interesting to see what kind of internal discussions have been going on behind closed doors. It’s clear that Cameron and Miller have identified some serious issues within the franchise and know that, in removing them completely, they can get back to the basics that made the first two films work. It would be really cool to have the T-800 character mean something again as opposed to being forced into the film for the sake of Schwarzenegger’s name.

The more I hear about this currently untitled Terminator the more excited I get. It also has me lamenting that maybe Neill Blomkamp was onto something with his now-defunct Alien sequel.