'Terminator: Dark Fate' teaser trailer explodes online

The first official teaser trailer for the next instalment in the fairly baffling Terminator franchise has landed online, and it goes some way to explaining how the film will fit into the series. You can watch it above.

Tim Miller’s Terminator: Dark Fate is set after Judgement Day, and will take place on an alternate timeline that follows twenty years on from Terminator 2, ignoring the events of Terminator 3, Terminator: Salvation, and Terminator: Genisys.

Read more: The tortured reboot timeline of the 'Terminator' franchise

That means it’s the first Terminator sequel since T2 to feature Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor. The teaser makes good use of this fact, making it absolutely clear how cool she’s going to be in the new film. She’s definitely the star of this teaser.

And it’s also clear that, despite the post-Judgement Day timeline, Skynet aren’t done trying to end humanity, sending a terrifying new Terminator (Gabriel Luna) - basically, the T-1000 with the creepy ability to split into two - against a new target.

We also get the reveal that Mackenzie Davis is playing an augmented human, not a Terminator, which is quite fun.

Not quite as fun as the sight of Linda Hamilton wielding a bazooka, but then what is?

Of course, we also get introduced to Natalia Reyes’ Dani Ramos, who Davis is apparently protecting, which is obviously a major change from the whole ‘protect the Connor family from annihilation’ set-up of the previous films. It adds a nice air of mystery to this soft reboot.

Sadly, we don’t get much of a look at Arnie’s T-800 in the trailer, but that’s possibly because they’re protecting some sort of twist.

As Hamilton told IGN at CinemaCon, describing Connor’s reaction to seeing her old cyborg pal / nemesis again: “Let's just say that it is very mixed. It's very confusing to her,” Hamilton said. “That's all I'm gonna say. It's not straight forward at all.”

Very, very intriguing.

Read more: 'Terminator: Dark Fate' first pictures reveal Arnie's new-look T-800

So, this teaser isn’t quite as funny as Deadpool, and not quite as original as The Terminator, let’s just hope the film isn’t as bad as Genysis. We’re quietly optimistic about this one.

Terminator: Dark Fate will be released in the UK on 23 October.