Actress Moon Bloodgood is in final negotiations to star in the fourth installment of the “Terminator” franchise, the Hollywood Reporter says.

Bloodgood starred in NBC’s short-lived series “Journeyman” and in moviues such as the Walt Disney Co. family film “Eight Below” and is likely to play the lead female character in the upcoming “Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins,” set for a summer 2009 release.

Bloodgood will join Christian Bale, who plays John Connor, Sam Worthington and Anton Yelchin. She will play a “no-nonsense and battle-hardened member of the resistance who is carrying a lot of guilt over surviving the nuclear holocaust,” the Hollywood Reporter adds.

Joseph McGinty Nichol, or McG, is directing. Filming starts next month in Mexico.

In late February, distributor Warner Bros. announced that “Terminator Salvation” would be released in North American theaters on May 22, 2009, a date which strategically coincides with the U. S. Memorial Day holiday weekend.

It was the first two films in the series, 1984’s “Terminator” and 1991’s “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” both written and directed by James Cameron, that enjoyed the greatest box office success and made Arnold Schwarzenegger an international superstar. “Terminator 2” grossed $204 million in the U. S. and $516 million internationally.

The last film in the franchise, 2003’s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken. It was directed by Jonathan Mostow and grossed an impressive $150.4 million domestically and $433 million worldwide, according to the Box Office Mojo.

The new film’s storyline is being kept under wraps but what is known is that the plot is an integral part of a trilogy beginning after Skynet has destroyed the greater part of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, trade paper Variety has reported.

Schwarzenegger, Stahl, and Danes are not returning for the new film.

Warner Bros. will distribute “Terminator Salvation” in North America due to its contract with Halcyon Co., which owns the franchise rights. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group will handle international distribution.