Just when things started to get interesting over on “Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles” – did you see the season/series finale? Wow! It was terrific! – Entertainment Weekly says Fox is about to remove its chip… permanently.

The series, which, I’ll gladly admit, has taken a while to find its legs, has never been a ratings winner for the network. The pilot, not surprisingly, rated well, but every episode following has aired with less and less viewers. Last week’s Season 2 finale – which saw the robotic Cameron (Summer Glau) asking young rebel John Connor (Thomas Dekker) to ‘get on top’ of her! – managed a rather squat audience.

I’d spoken to executive producer Mario Kassar about the series a couple of weeks ago, and at the time, he’d hoped that Fox would bring back the show for a third season. I think they'd be stupid not too – there’s lots of possibilities for Season 3 (again, I’m being careful not to spoil too much of the season finale for anyone that’s yet to see it), and with “Terminator Salvation” released in May, and about to make a mint at the box office, the show would likely return with an increased audience. By the end of 2009, the world will again be hooked on everything Terminator. It's worth a shot...

Meanwhile, Director McG tells MTV that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cameo in “Terminator Salvation” is in doubt. You’ll recall that the big guy is due to appear in a scene near the end of the film, reprising his iconic T-800 role. The plan has always been for some effects-wizards to superimpose Arnold’s face over another bodybuilder’s body. And from what I’ve heard, it’s been no easy task.

"We don't know if Schwarzenegger is in the movie or not; it's not clear”, McG says. “I can say that. It's a complicated, delicate balancing act as of now. The jury is still out."

When McG says ‘jury’, he’s referring to the guys at ILM. As of a week ago, they had still not been able to effectively superimpose Schwarzenegger’s mug on top of actor/muscle-man Roland Kickinger’s body. Someone I know that has seen the film – about a month ago now – said the scene that Schwarzenegger would appear in, should ILM complete their mission in time, comes at the tail-end of the film. It’s a fight sequence in an industrial setting involving, of course, a naked T-800 (who we see mostly from behind –probably because they don’t want anyone to see that it isn’t Arnold in the part) and John Connor, going at it. It’s very clear that the character is supposed to be Arnold’s from the first-film, but Kickinger's, er, back and behind, is billed.

So... this could go either way. Either they master the ‘Schwarzenegger effect’ in time for the May release date, or they simply leave ‘the back of Roland Kickinger’ in it – to at least give one the impression they’re seeing Schwarzenegger’s trademark character (even though my source says it’s obvious it’s not Arnold).