The Terminator franchise is one of the greatest and most important sci-fi franchises of all time. Envisioned by legendary director James Cameron after a fever dream that involved a metallic entity with kitchen knives. It became a cult classic movie and later a whole franchise that is still active even today.

The first movie was released back in 1984 and has since gained a cult following. No true sci-fi fan will tell you that The Terminator is bad, or, to be more precise, that it is not, in fact, one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. And from a cinematic aspect, we can agree.

And while the role of the Terminator, or the Cyberdyne Systems Model 101, or simply T-800, was immortalized by Arnold Schwarzenegger in one of his best roles, did you know that someone else was initially considered for the role before James Cameron turned down that idea? Keep reading to find out the whole story!

Fans of the franchise will probably know all the details, but the rumor that Schwarzenegger was not the first choice for the role of T-800, in fact, that he was not even cast first, was fueled and started by Arnie himself in an old interview in which he said the following:

It was actually OJ Simpson that was the first cast Terminator,” he said. “Then somehow [James Cameron] felt that he was not as believable for a killing machine. So then they hired me. That’s really what happened.

On the painting that I have at home – it was painted by Jim Cameron. Underneath my face is actually OJ Simpson’s face. It was already painted on it, with the leather jacket and the gun in the hand. I have the painting in my office. So if anyone would ever scrape off the part of my face, underneath will be OJ.

Yes, the recently deceased football player, O.J. Simpson, was supposedly the first choice to play T-800, which would have turned out to be a PR disaster knowing that happened to Simpson later.

But, while Schwarzenegger repeated the same story on several occasions, and we can indeed confirm that Simpson was a candidate, James Cameron later debunked the story as false:

Let me correct that right now. Arnold is literally just wrong. I know it’s hard to imagine! You don’t argue with Arnold. I got a call from Mike Medavoy who ran Orion, which was jointly financing with Hemdale. And Medavoy said, ‘Are you sitting down?

I’ve got this movie cast: O.J. Simpson as The Terminator and Arnold Schwarzenegger as [Kyle] Reese. [Producer and co-screenwriter] Gale Hurd and I looked at each other like that was the stupidest thing we’d ever heard in our lives. And I told him on that phone call, ‘It’s not O.J. Simpson. We’re not doing that.’ And he said, ‘Well, will you meet with Arnold Schwarzenegger?’

Source: Los Angeles Times

And the rest is history. Cameron disliked the idea of Arnie playing Reese, and after the two met, he thought that he would be a great T-800, and that’s how history was made. So, yes, Simpson is part of the creative process behind the movie, but he was never cast in the role, and he was never Cameron’s first pick.