Aside from Halloween‘s excellent handling of Jamie Lee Curtis and her on-screen character Laurie Strode, how many female movie heroes can you name above the age of 40? Not a whole lot, probably.
That was the question posed by the legendary James Cameron, who’s returning to the franchise he helped birth with this year’s Terminator: Dark Fate. He won’t do so alone, of course, given that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are also on board for the project.
Hamilton has naturally stolen most of the headlines, seeing as Dark Fate marks her first appearance in the series – aside from an uncredited voice role in Salvation – in 27 years. And based on the sequel’s explosive trailer, time has not been kind to the franchise’s post-Skynet world. As such, the remnants of humanity will need a hero – a leader – to help them out, and while we imagine Hamilton’s Sarah Connor will fill that role, she won’t be on her own.
Enter Mackenzie Davis’ Grace. Billed as the lead of the pic and set to play a huge role, Grace is a character we still know little about, but according to director Tim Miller, she’s going to scare “the f*ck out of” closet misogynists.
“If you’re at all enlightened, she’ll play like gangbusters. If you’re a closet misogynist, she’ll scare the f*ck out of you, because she’s tough and strong but very feminine. We did not trade certain gender traits for others; she’s just very strong, and that frightens some dudes. You can see online the responses to some of the early sh*t that’s out there, trolls on the internet. I don’t give a f*ck.”
Strong words, but it sounds like Miller’s sticking to his vision for the film and not comprising in any way, which is a good sign. And it’ll certainly be interesting to see the online reaction to Davis’ character once the pic releases.
Speaking of which, Terminator: Dark Fate will hit theaters worldwide on November 1st. It’s the day after Judgment Day, so we fully expect John, Sarah, and the T-800 to be entering a desolate, hopeless world. And we can’t wait to see what it holds in store for them.
