James Cameron Schwarzenegger also returned in his role as The Terminator, but this time as a protector. Unlike Schwarzenegger's character—the T-800 Terminator which is made of a metal endoskeleton—the new villain of the sequel, called the T-1000, is a more advanced Terminator made of liquid metal, and with polymorphic abilities. The T-1000 would also be much less bulky than the T-800. For the role, Cameron cast Robert Patrick, a sharp contrast to Schwarzenegger. Cameron explained, "I wanted someone who was extremely fast and agile. If the T-800 is a human Panzer tank, then the T-1000 is a Porsche." Cameron had originally wanted
T-1000 sequel was that both Terminators sent to the past would be T-800s like the one played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, with one being stripped down to a metal endoskeleton like the one from the original film. Once Cameron actually started working on the script, in 1990, he figured a better way was to turn the evil Terminator into a more advanced model. Cameron's original pick to play the T-1000 was rock musician Billy Idol, and storyboards had the robot resembling him, but a serious motorcycle accident prevented Idol from accepting the role. Then, he thought of casting actor Michael Biehn, who