MSN confirms that Christian Bale is in serious talks to take on the role of John Connor, who leads the human resistance against the evil machines of Skynet, in the largely titled Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.

(I’d call it Terminator 4, but that’s just me.)

Edward Furlong played John in Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Nick Stahl took over the part in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and gave a much more nuanced and capable performance.

Bale’s a really interesting choice for this; his talent and dedication are infinite in every role he takes. This would also give him his second massive Warner Bros. franchise and put yet another iconic film character on his résumé.

I hope it happens. It would be awesome to see Bale as Batman in The Dark Knight this coming July and then catch him again fighting Terminators in Summer 2009.

If you haven’t seen him in Rescue Dawn yet, you should rent it or buy it today. It’s really a charismatic and inspiring performance, and I have a feeling that Bale’s John Connor would combine the power of Batman with the leadership he showed in Rescue Dawn.

Joseph McGinty Nichol, who did the Charlie’s Angels movies and We Are Marshall, has been in talks to direct.

Anyway, this rumor has been floating around for several days. Ain’t It Cool was the first to declare Bale as John Connor, followed by this report from CHUD first saying that Bale would actually be the Terminator and then updated to say he’d be playing not John Connor and not the Terminator but another character entirely who’d be new to the franchise.

Who knows? Hopefully we’ll find out soon enough.

Meanwhile, Thomas Dekker will be playing yet another John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a new Fox series that debuts January 14. Lena Headey, who played the gorgeous, stately queen in 300, plays Sarah Connor, and Summer Glau, who was adorable and dangerous as River in Firefly and Serenity, plays a Terminator on the show. I hope it’s good.

In the meantime, I’ll keep my ears to the ground about this Christian Bale thing.

Photo: Christian Bale Fan