Will Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson joining 1940s-set ‘Terminator 5’?

Here’s a fun “Terminator 5” rumour to send you into the weekend, one that involves the Terminator himself and the modern-day action hero that many consider his successor.

Since returning to “acting” last year with “The Expendables 2,” former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wasted no time telling the world that sequels to many of his biggest hits were in the pipe. According to “Ahnold” himself, follow-ups to “Conan the Barbarian,” “Twins,” and “Terminator” are all in development. However, the lack of concrete details have given fans of the Governator plenty to speculate about.

As a sequel to the movie that made Schwarzenegger famous, the still-untitled “Terminator 5” has been the subject of much of said conjecture. After the missteps of “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” and the technically Arnold-less “Terminator Salvation,” fans are eager to see a return to time-travelling-killer-cyborg form for Schwarzenegger and company in the fifth film.

According to the Examiner, sources close to the project report that Schwarzenegger may get a little help (or perhaps hindrance) this time out in the form of another beefy action star: sometimes-wrestler and go-to franchise salvager Dwayne Johnson. The artist formerly known as “The Rock” is apparently being eyed by “T5” producers to play the film’s cyborg villain. Johnson and Schwarzenegger fleetingly appeared together in the former's 2003 film "The Rundown" -- a brief Arnold cameo that served as an unofficial passing of the action movie torch to a new generation.

Perhaps more interesting than Johnson’s potential involvement in the project are the source’s claims about Schwarzenegger’s character and the drastically different setting for “Terminator 5.” The source states that “Terminator 5” will be set in the 1940s or '50s and feature the grandparents of future war hero John Connor battling a cyborg sent back in time to eliminate him from history. What’s more, Arnold might not even be playing a robot in “T5,” but instead the film’s flesh and blood hero: a close friend to the Connor family.

This is all still rumour at this point, but it sounds like a promising juxtaposition of the series' recognizable elements. The mid-twentieth century setting, combined with Schwarzenegger as good guy and Johnson as the baddie could be just the shake-up that the long running franchise desperately needs.