Sam Worthington Loses Bid to Contrive His Return to Terminator Franchise

Between Terminator Salvation, Avatar and Clash of the Titans, Sam Worthington may be on the A-list hot streak of his career. So you can't really blame him for attempting to keep that going with a bit of creative fudging with the first franchise. Or rather, maybe you can't blame him, but according to Worthington himself, it appears that Terminator's producers have heard enough out of him.

If you haven't seen Terminator Salvation by now, you probably never will, and thus the SPOILER ALERT that Worthington's character dies in the end is useless. But that critical plot development -- in which his hybrid robot/human donates his heart to save the dying John Connor -- is irrelevant to the Aussie actor. And why shouldn't it be, really? This is the Terminator series were talking about:

"I had an idea that we'd go back in time to when Marcus was first put in jail," the actor explained, referring to his character's status as a death-row inmate years before being turned into a machine. "They broke Linda Hamilton out of jail in [Terminator 2: Judgment Day], out of the nuthouse. In this one, they'd have to go back in time and break Marcus out of jail. It's the same kind of mirror image."

Worthington said his pitch wasn't embraced by the powers that be, but he still enjoys the idea of what Marcus' resurrection could mean for the franchise and for his own performance of the character.

"He would be more fallible, because he's human; he's not metallic," he said. "He can get hurt. He still has the gung-ho attitude, but he can get hurt now."

Oh sure, it's allll about Marcus. Worthington also expressed his interest in reteaming with co-star Christian Bale and director McG, as if the new hedge-fund owners who recently plucked the franchise rights out of bankruptcy have any intention of bringing back either of those guys if/when Terminator resumes in the years ahead. I mean, Chris Evans is getting paid $300,000 to play Captain America. If Worthington doesn't mind taking a pay cut to star opposite, say, Dane Cook as John Connor, then hey, godspeed. But coming off the biggest, highest-grossing film ever made, with Hurricane Titans blackening the horizon? Sorry, Sam. It was fun while it lasted.

· Sam Worthington Hopes For Terminator Salvation Sequel [MTV]