Doctor Who alum Matt Smith has been cast in the upcoming Terminator reboot in a major role that Deadline reports will expand in the second and third installments of the planned trilogy. Paramount Pictures says only that he'll play "a new character with a strong connection to John Connor."

Previously dubbed Terminator: Genesis but referred to only as "the Terminator reboot" in the press release, director Alan Taylor's film also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi and Byung Hun Lee.

Smith, who rose to fame as the Eleventh Doctor on the BBC television series, will next be seen in Ryan Gosling's Lost River with Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan and Eva Mendes,

Produced by Skydance Productions, the film opens July 1, 2015.