Since his involvement in Terminator: Genisys was announced, fans have been dying to know what part Matt Smith is playing in the movie. An Entertainment Weekly cover from months ago showed the Doctor Who actor costumed as one of John Connor's resistance fighters in the future, but revealed nothing about his character.
Whoever Smith was portraying, it was deemed the biggest of mysteries. The one secret that the filmmakers wanted to hold onto — considering it an even bigger secret than the reveal of John Connor's status as the movie's surprise villain. (That was revealed in the movie's last trailer.)
Paramount Pictures press materials that just went online today finally reveal who Matt Smith is playing in Terminator: Genisys, but provides no details on what this character is all about. Still, the name alone will be enough to have fans reeling. Do we even need to point out that this counts as a major spoiler?
Last chance to turn back. Okay, here it is. Matt Smith's character is...
"T-5000."
It goes without saying that the designation "T-5000" signifies an extremely advanced Terminator, far more advanced than even the liquid metal T-1000 (which also appears in the new film). Does this mean that Smith is a bad guy? Or is there any chance he could be on the side of the good guys, like Schwarzeneggar's T-800? Well...
Potentially gigantic, enormo-spoilers are directly ahead...
Seriously, if true, the following pretty much spoils the movie's biggest plot twist. (But take it with a big grain of salt, all the same.)
Early spoilers for the film posted in various locations online explain just what's happened to John Connor (Jason Clarke) — and it's all the T-5000's fault. The T-5000, apparently, is a prototype Terminator that can turn into a swarm of "nanomachines," and it also has the ability to "infect" humans, altering their physiology and brainwashing them in the process. (Kind of like the Borg.)
After he sends Kyle Reese to the past to save his mother, John is intercepted by Matt Smith's T-5000, which infects and transforms him into a "T-3000," putting him somewhere between the Terminators we know and Smith's über-futuristic one. This sets into motion the main plot of the movie, with Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke), Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney), and Schwarzeneggar's T-800 (who's named "the Guardian" in Paramount's press materials) on a quest to rewrite time and undo the T-5000's actions.
There it is. If this is true — and keep in mind, that's a very big if — it means that Smith's role in Terminator: Genisys will be small. But the same spoilers suggest that Smith will play a much bigger part in sequels, should they go forward.
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