‘Doctor Who’ Matt Smith Joins ‘Terminator’ Trilogy In Major Role

UPDATE, 8:59 AM PT: Paramount just confirmed the casting. The release is below the original break.

PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, 8:04 AM PT: Here is something that should create a geek frenzy. Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions are setting the final major piece of the final trilogy of Terminator films. I’m told they are casting Matt Smith, who has played The Doctor in Doctor Who, in a major role that will grow in the second and third films.

Smith will join Game Of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke (Sara Connor), Zero Dark Thirty’s Jason Clarke (John Connor), Jai Courtney (Kyle Reese), Dayo Okeniyi (Danny Dyson, son of the brainiac cyborg developer played by Joe Morton in Terminator: Judgment Day), and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who reprises his signature cyborg. The time-travel saga Terminator: Genesis is directed by Alan Taylor and has a July 1, 2015 released date. Smith is repped by UTA and Troika.

HOLLYWOOD, CA (May 2, 2014) – Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions announced today that “Doctor Who” star Matt Smith will join the cast of the upcoming “TERMINATOR” reboot.

Smith will play a new character with a strong connection to John Connor, alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi and Byung Hun Lee.

Alan Taylor is directing the film from a screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier. David Ellison and Dana Goldberg of Skydance Productions are producing. Skydance’s Paul Schwake, Annapurna Pictures’ Megan Ellison, Kalogridis and Lussier are executive producing.

Smith is best known for playing The Doctor on the popular “Doctor Who” television series during the 2011-2103 seasons. His other television credits include “Christopher and His Kind,” “Moses Jones,” and “The Street.” He can be seen next on the big screen in “LOST RIVER,” directed by Ryan Gosling, alongside Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Eva Mendes.

He is represented by United Talent Agency and Michael Duff at Troika.

The “TERMINATOR” franchise launched in 1984 with Schwarzenegger as the title character and spanned three subsequent films, which have earned more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

Paramount will distribute the film worldwide on July 1, 2015.