NEW YORK - Helena Bonham Carter could soon be joining the battle between man and cyborg.

The British actress is in talks to board “Terminator Salvation,” the fourth installment in the franchise kicked off by James Cameron in 1984. Roles in the new film have been kept under wraps, but insiders described the Bonham Carter role as small but pivotal.

Principal photography on the movie, which looks at the origins of the battle between humans and Skynet, started last month in New Mexico, with the idea that most exteriors would be shot before a potential actors strike. Warner Bros. is scheduled to release the action film in May. It comes from “Charlie’s Angels” director Joseph “McG” Nichol.

The addition of Bonham Carter — who received an Oscar nomination for 1998’s “The Wings of the Dove” — would bring a prestige element to a big summer crowd-pleaser. Christian Bale, who reprises his role as Batman in “The Dark Knight” this summer, is set to star as John Connor.

“Salvation,” however, wouldn’t be the first event movie Bonham Carter has recently been in. She starred as Bellatrix Lestrange in Warners’ 2007 “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and is set to reprise that role in the franchise’s next two films. She was in theaters last year with “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

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