We learned yesterday that Terminator 5 (not the official title) is gearing up to begin filming in early 2014, with Paramount handling the theatrical release. Shortly thereafter, the sci-fi franchise’s longtime star Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed that planned start date for production.

Arnold has been in attendance at the 21st Century Financial Education Summit in Australia, where he provided the aforementioned update on a fifth Terminator movie. However, what’s really bound to get fans talking is what the musclebound sexagenarian had to say about his role in the film.

Here is the direct quote from Schwarzenegger, according to The Arnold Fans:
“… In fact, I’m very happy that the studios want me to be in Terminator 5 and to star AS the Terminator, which we start shooting in January [2014] and I’m also going to do King Conan – to play that role and also to do another Twins movie. So I feel very proud of that. I feel very happy and I’m looking forward to doing those films.”

It’s been previously confirmed that Schwarzenegger will play age-appropriate versions of Conan the Barbarian and Julius Benedict in The Legend of Conan and Triplets (the films he is referring to in the above quote). The general expectation has been that he could portray the human model for the T-800 in Terminator 5, and/or some equally-important player connected to the human resistance against Skynet. Is that not the case after all?

Many Arnold fans have proven receptive to him settling into old(er) age with his roles in The Last Stand and the upcoming Escape Plan (where he appears with silver hair), but will they suspend belief if he steps back into the Terminator role? There have been significant advances in practical/digital technology used to “de-age” actors over the years, but the results can still be iffy (see: the CGI de-aging of Elijah Wood and Ian Holm in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey).

It’s possible that the same practical effects that were used to create the T-800′s “organic structure” (read more about that here) in Terminator Salvation will be reused, in order to help make Schwarzenegger more convincing while playing a robot in Terminator 5. Or, as some of our readers have suggested, maybe he’ll portray an aged T-800, based on the idea that the machine’s bio-exoskeleton can grow old (if you’re willing to go for that).

Then again, maybe what Arnold really meant is that he is playing the ”Terminator” – as in, the human who inspired the machine… ?