Christian Bale, who's already strutting his stuff before the cameras for Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, will play John Connor in a further two cinematic outings for the Skynet versus humanity saga.

The fourth Terminator film - the first of planned trilogy which will "reinvent" the franchise - is currently shooting at Albuquerque Studios in New Mexico under the watchful eye of Charlie's Angels helmsman McG, and is slated for a 22 May 2009 release.

Much to the delight of producers Halcyon, Bale has agreed to stick around for the subsequent movies. The company's Victor Kubicek told the BBC: "He's really an actor's actor, so we're very proud. Christian was our first choice and he's a big fan of The Terminator, so we're very lucky."

Of Terminator Salvation, Anderson teased back in October: "This is set in the future, in a full-scale war between Skynet and humankind."

Executive producer Moritz Borman added: "The third film was really the conclusion of what happened in the 'now'. You will find the most-loved characters, but the intention here is to present a fresh new world and have this be the first of a trilogy."

The producers refused to reveal to the BBC if Arnold Schwarzenegger was set to take a cameo role in the forthcoming movie, and remained resolutely tight-lipped on plot details. Kubiek insisted: "We can't talk about the story points at all. Not everyone gets to see the script. They only see the part of the script that's relevant to the job they're doing." ®

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