“Listen, and understand! That Terminator: Dark Fate is out there! It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. It absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are back in the franchise!”
I imagine that was a line that director Tim Miller used on original survivor of the T-800, Linda Hamilton, to try and get her to come back for the sixth installment of the long-running series. After all, she initially didn’t want to return, according to a recent interview.
Sitting down with The New York Times, Linda discussed her reluctance to come back to a big-budget blockbuster-type film, explaining the following:
“That was my hesitation: Do I want to trade this lovely, authentic life for that? I didn’t want my neighbors looking at me differently. We’re neighbors because of who we are, not what we do, and I don’t want that to creep into my life again.”
The 62-year-old actress has been living a quieter life in New Orleans since her split from James Cameron in 1999, and has settled in quite well. Why give up that level comfort, especially considering the last few Terminator films haven’t exactly been great? Also, the role is quite physical, and it took determination to get back into robot-fighting shape and to keep it up day after day. One last major thing Linda had to consider was simply doing the part justice as well, with the actress saying:
“It’s not that I was afraid to let the fans down; I was afraid to let Sarah Connor down.”
While on set, Hamilton made sure to keep the character as real as possible, shooting down lines because they were “stupid,” according to her. I mean, whatever she’s doing, it seems like it’s working. The first two trailers piqued my interest much more than, ugh, Genesys, and Linda was 100% the most badass part of either of them. As such, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic about Terminator: Dark Fate.