Will Arnie Be Back?

With his time as Governor of California drawing to a close what might the future hold for Arnold Schwarzenegger..?

From humble origins in post-war Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone on to enjoy an extraordinary career and achieved unprecedented success in three vastly different professions. Rising to the summit of the bodybuilding world with seven Mr. Olympia titles, Schwarzenegger then turned his attention to Hollywood and became the biggest action star of the 80s and 90s before focussing on his political ambitions when he announced his candidacy in the 2003 California recall election. Defeating his nearest rival by over 1 million votes, “The Governator” assumed office in November 2003 and was re-elected three years later for a second term, which is scheduled to expire in January 2011.

Barring a change to the US Constitution it seems the end is nigh for Arnie’s political career, so what does the future hold for the Austrian Oak? It’s been seven years since his last leading role in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines but a recent cameo appearance in Sylvester Stallone’s action ensemble The Expendables would suggest a return to the silver screen is certainly on the cards. Does the 63-year-old have enough left in the tank to regain his status as one of Hollywood’s top names and if so, just how would be go about achieving this? Let’s take a look at some of the possibilities…

If the last few years have taught us anything it seems one of the best ways for a faded action star to kick-start a comeback is by returning to well of past successes. It worked for Stallone with Rocky Balboa and Rambo - and to a lesser extent, Bruce Willis with Live Free or Die Hard - so could this be the path for Arnold to follow? Well, he’s kind of already done it with his main franchise, appearing as the T-800 in McG’s Terminator Salvation courtesy of archive footage and some technical wizardry, but in all honesty that’s probably about as far as age will allow him to go. I mean, would he really be convincing now as an unstoppable killing machine? It was pushing it last time round.

So, that’s Terminator out then and the only other recurring role Arnie has under his belt is Conan, which is already getting a reboot in 2011 with Jason Momoa (Stargate: Atlantis) headlining as the Cimmerian warrior. This probably isn’t too much of an issue as it would require a gruelling training regime and even more technical wizardry than Salvation for Arnie to pull off Conan the Barbarian once again. Should Marcel Nispel’s remake prove popular enough to warrant any sequels then I could see them shoehorning in a quick cameo somehow, but I think we can safely assume that a full-on return to Robert E. Howard’s Barbarian is about as likely as Mr. Freeze cropping up in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Although his involvement is limited to just the one movie, there is another franchise in Arnold’s back catalogue that could play host to a return. In fact, early rumours had suggested Schwarzenegger would reprise his role as Dutch from Predator for a short scene in the recent reboot from producer Robert Rodriguez. Although this never materialised, Rodriguez has left the door open for Dutch to pop up in the Predators sequel. Don’t be surprised to see this happen; Arnie is certainly fond of his cameos, keeping his 'acting' toes wet since his last major outing with appearances in The Rundown, Around the World in 80 Days, The Kid & I and Cars, but it’s certainly not going to set off a career resurgence in the way that Rocky Balboa did for Stallone.

Cameos are all well and good but let’s face it - Arnold’s a guy who’s used to his name before the title, taking up half the poster in big, bold text, and he really needs to be the main man. If he’s going follow the Stallone route then the only other possibility I can think of comes in the form of secret agent Harry Tasker. Talk of a sequel to True Lies is nothing new (particularly in the mind of co-star Tom Arnold), although director James Cameron has routinely distanced himself from the idea and is now wrapped up in all things Avatar for the foreseeable future. Does that make it a pipe dream? Well, not really. Cameron is rumoured to have a True Lies television series in development so it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to get involved in a producing capacity on a sequel. Besides, Cameron’s absence didn’t put Schwarzenegger off the Terminator franchise ($30m salaries really help to ease the separation anxiety), so even if this wasn’t the case I’m sure some sort of deal could be agreed.

Out of all the possibilities so far a True Lies sequel seems the most likely to me, unless of course he decides to go with something completely original. Should Arnold opt for this route you’d have to imagine he’d be uncomfortable returning to the violent, hard-R output of his early career, especially as he spent much of the 90s distancing himself from this in favour of more family-friendly material. Given his age this would probably be a wise decision and if recent photographs are anything to go by then Arnold has some catching up to do against his contemporaries in the physique stakes, so a tongue-in-cheek approach is surely the only way to go. I suppose there's also the option of playing against type in a more dramatic role, but that's not really going to happen, is it?

So with little more than a couple of months left for The Governator, we should soon begin to get an idea of where Schwarzenegger is headed next. There has been talk of Arnie penning a memoir, which would no doubt prove a huge seller, and if that turns out to be the case I'd expect to see him crop up in a few cameos here and there, starting of course with The Expendables 2. As for a fully fledged comeback it's going to be a tough road, but as his past career shows, Arnie doesn't settle for second best and if that's the route he takes you'd have to be a fool to bet against him succeeding.

Related:

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Gary Collinson