According to both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, Christian Bale is indeed in talks to star in the next Terminator movie as an adult John Connor. Of course if you’ve read this site and others, you already knew that around Thanksgiving. Neither one of the trades have anything new to add, just to say that talks are underway.

From Variety:

Thesp is closing in on the role of John Connor in Warner Bros.’ reboot of the “Terminator” franchise.

Project puts Bale in two consecutive summer tentpoles for the studio: He will reprise his role as the Caped Crusader in “The Dark Knight” next summer, followed by “Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins” in summer 2009.

Bale will play Connor, now in his 30s, in the fourth installment of the “Terminator” franchise, to be set in the future. McG is directing the project, skedded for an April start in Budapest.

The Hollywood Reporter chimes in:

Christian Bale is in negotiations to star in “Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins,” the fourth installment of the hit science fiction series. McG is in negotiations to direct the movie, which is being made by the Halcyon Co., and will be distributed by Warner Bros.

So there you go. The trades have confirmed AICN’s story from Thanksgiving. With Bale as the star, all those plot details we heard about the new trilogy being based around a new character should probably go in the dumper. You don’t sign someone like Bale and give him a secondary character.

Here’s the only adult John Connor we’ve ever seen (I think this is from Cameron’s “T2: Judgment Day”); now imagine Christian Bale with that scar and serious, “weight of the world on my shoulders” look: