TV Terminator is terminated

Brian Austin Green in Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Photo / Supplied by TVNZ

The new Terminator movie may take a leap into the future. But the franchise's TV arm is stuck in the present and not for much longer.

American network Fox announced last week it won't be renewing the two-season series for a third.

But the show has provided actor Brian Austin Green - the whiney David Silver in Beverly Hills 90210 - with a career comeback vehicle, playing Derek Reese, the uncle of John Connor, who has come back in time to help protect his nephew.

"It's the greatest character I have got to play so far because there is just so much there. It's an endless life - he's been around at least twice as long as anyone he is interacting with now. He has experienced just the absolute worst of what life could present you, " says Green.

"So there is something so endearing about watching this guy who will kill somebody to save the future but at the same time has so much fun enjoying an icecream."

And though the show takes its cues from the first two films - but before T3 - Green says the television series has had some advantages over its big-screen counterparts in the character development department

" I think a lot of people have learned a lot about the characters that they have never thought about."

Unlike the new film, it also retains the maternal instinct of the first two films.

"Our show is very oestrogen-based."

Funnily enough, his attachment to the franchise has also meant he has something in common with his on-off girlfriend, starlet Megan Fox - her role in the Transformers films means they have both had to battle robots from the future.

"There is something really odd about that," he laughs. "I am not sure how that happened."

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronices, TV2, Wednesdays, 10.30pm