Arnold Schwarzenegger says he's 'done' with the 'Terminator' franchise, admitting the recent sequels were 'not well written'

• Arnold Schwarzenegger said he's "done" with the "Terminator" franchise.
• "The franchise is not done. I'm done," he told The Hollywood Reporter.

Arnold Schwarzenegger says it's time to finally walk away from the franchise that made him a box office star in the 1980s.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Schwarzenegger, 75, announced that he's through playing the indestructible T-800.

"The franchise is not done. I'm done," he told THR. "I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to 'The Terminator.'"

This realization comes after the franchise, set in a world on the cusp of the robot apocalypse, has hit some hard times at the box office after its peak with 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgement Day," which saw director James Cameron make a movie better than his groundbreaking original.

Since then the sequels have generally found less acclaim. "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" (2003), "Terminator Salvation" (2009), "Terminator Genisys" (2015), and "Terminator: Dark Fate" (2019) all found mixed reactions from critics and lackluster box office.

"Someone has to come up with a great idea," Schwarzenegger said. "'The Terminator' was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly. The first three movies were great. Number four ['Salvation'] I was not in because I was governor. Then five ['Genisys'] and six ['Dark Fate'] didn't close the deal as far as I'm concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written."

Back in 2017, Schwarzenegger told Insider why he still enjoyed playing the role that made him famous.

"I think the T-800 model is a really interesting character that was developed with a tremendous ability," he said. "He's a machine, can be destructive, can do things human being 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."

But it seems it's finally time for the character with one of the best movie lines of all time — "I'll be back!" — to be put on the scrap heap.

The future of the franchise might be a pivot from movies to animation. Variety reported in 2021 that Netflix is developing a "Terminator" anime series.