As promised, the Terminator will be back, and in "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" he's bringing Nick Stahl with him.

"It's gonna be great," said Stahl, who has appeared in such films as "Disturbing Behavior" and "In the Bedroom." "I feel really good about it."

Currently shooting in California, "T3" sees the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 model Terminator, a role he made famous nearly 20 years ago. Helmed by "Titanic" director James Cameron, 1984's original "Terminator" depicted Arnie as a murderous cyborg sent from a future ruled by machines to eliminate the mother (Linda Hamilton) of human resistance leader John Connor. Played by Edward Furlong, Connor was a teenager in the 1991 sequel, with a friendly, reprogrammed Arnie protecting him from a deadly new liquid-metal killer.

Hamilton will appear only in flashbacks in "T3," while Cameron and Furlong are nowhere to be found. "U-571" director Jonathan Mostow has stepped in for Cameron, while Stahl is taking over as a grown-up Connor.

"[I'm not trying] to imitate anything about the character that's been done," Stahl said of his approach to the role. "I just don't think that that's really realistic or that's even possible. You have to kind of use your own arsenal. So I've really just tried to kind of make it my own."

Stahl got his start as a young boy, playing alongside Mel Gibson in "The Man Without a Face," and later appeared in "The Thin Red Line," but he's best known for art-house hits like "Bully" and "In the Bedroom." He said he's aware of the high expectations for "T3," since he's a big fan of the series himself.

"I saw the first one when I was really young. The second one was probably one of my favorite movies growing up. So I've seen that many times. It was a really interestingly conceived sort of story. And it's a great kind of commercial mix of dark, dark action and comedy."

So will "Rise of the Machines" measure up?

"The script is really solid," Stahl promised. "I think the main aim was to basically up the stakes from the last one and to make the newest one even more groundbreaking. Because the second one, really nothing like that had been done before. And so I think in order to match that kind of enthusiasm, they have to really try that much harder as far as the story and the actual filming goes.

"And the effects, you know, there's a lot of effects that are done these days that weren't available 10 years ago," he continued. "In that way, visually, it's gonna be more realistic. It's hard to know how it's going to turn out, ... but if the script says anything I would say that it's definitely as good, if not better, than the last one."

Like everyone involved with the production, Stahl has been sworn to secrecy about the finer points of the "T3" plot. What is known is that resistance forces send yet another T-800 to protect Connor from a female Terminator, played by newcomer Kristanna Loken ("Gangland").

"She's just doing a great job," Stahl said. "She's doing months of weight training and then fighting training and weapons training. She's just really been very dedicated to it. And also, sort of like a mime movement class for the sort of robotic sense to the character. Once you see her in action, it's quite a transformation."

The "transformation" fans really want to know about is whether or not Loken's "Terminatrix" is made of liquid metal.

"Yeah, she is," Stahl offered cautiously. "And she's got ... It's new and improved. But I don't think I could ... They won't let me say any more. It's very top secret stuff."

"T3" has about three months of shooting left. After that, Stahl's off to make "Carnivale," a new HBO series about a traveling circus during the Depression. Stahl called it "a fantasy story about good and evil."

After that, what's next? Would Stahl be down for "Terminator 4"?

"Yeah, yeah, definitely," he said. "From reading the third one, it leaves some questions as to where you go from here. But I guess they thought the same thing after the second as well. You know, if it was around, I definitely would love to do it."

"Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines," also starring Claire Danes, is scheduled to hit theaters July 2, 2003.