SciFi Wire has just posted an interview with Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins producer James Middleton. In it, he unveils some of the secrets behind the film.

Middleton states, "It's post-apocalyptic. It's set after the events of [Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines], where we see the nuclear exchange at the end of the movie, and we show what the world is like after this event, and we show how people try to deal in a post-apocalyptic world. And we introduce a new character, who becomes very important to the resistance and to John Connor, a new hero. It's really about the birth of a new hero."

About John Conner, James says, I would look at him as a character that is introduced and that will grow in the second and third movies of the trilogy."

He also chimes in on Arnold Schwarzenegger's involvement in the film, "He has been approached, and in the early days of our development of T4, one of our producers, Andy Vajna, who's a good friend of his, spoke to him about doing a cameo. This was even before he was governor. But we know now that he is governor, he's got priorities that are above doing movies."

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins is scheduled for release in 2009.