Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were the previous writers on the project and Friedman’s hire signals a potential change in tone. Kaplan and Springer are neophyte scribes known for their comedy scripts. Among the works they have in development are the Rebel Wilson comedy K-Pop: Lost in America and Disaster Wedding, which has Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow attached to direct.
Friedman, on the other hand, is a veteran of the sci-fi genre. He co-wrote War of the Worlds, the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise update on the H.G. Wells classic, and then acted as the writer-creator of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Terminator TV series that served as his first foray into the world of James Cameron. Years later, he would return to work on 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate and was one of the writers Cameron turned to help in world-building and crafting stories for his multi-movie Avatar franchise.