It's been a long time coming, but she's finally back - and based on that first trailer, she's never been better.
With Paramount Pictures booking time for a star-studded
Terminator: Dark Fate presentation on Thursday morning at San Diego Comic-Con,
Entertainment Weekly recently got a chance to catch up with director Tim Miller (
Deadpool) and returning franchise star Linda Hamilton (
Terminator 2: Judgment Day), who will reprise her role as Sarah Connor for the first time in nearly three decades.
After having sat out three now non-canon sequels, Hamilton revealed what it was about this particular sequel that convinced her to re-enter this beloved universe. "
There is a real gift in that so much time has passed, and that gives me so much more to explore with the character. Sarah Connor is the same person but I wanted to see how the difference in events have changed her and shaped her and send her forward. There was meat there. I didn’t want to just recycle the same idea. It’s a woman who has a different mission, a different story, so I wanted to see what we could do with that."
However, getting her on board was easier said than done as it took producer - and former husband - James Cameron (
Avatar 2) more than one attempt to get her attention. "
He called me three times before I even called him back. The third time, he was like, “It’s about work,” and I’m like, “Oh, hey, what’s up?” But, even with that and his big sell, it took me weeks to decide that I really could go there and might have something new to say."
While Hamilton did have a brief voice cameo in McG's
Terminator: Salvation, she hasn't made an actual appearance as Sarah Connor since 1991, when she was last seen driving down a highway with her son and leaving us with some all-time movie dialogue. When asked about getting back into shoes of her most iconic character to date, Hamilton shared, "
It’s not like riding a bike, I’ll tell you that. [Laughs]."
"Of course, one assumes if you put in the same hard work, you get the same results, so I went straight back into training really hard and it’s like, “Oh my god, you need hormones to put muscle on!” So just starting with the basic cosmetics of the character and all of the things that I had to sort of include in my new reality as Sarah Connor. But, really, it’s about building her backstory and figuring out where she’s been and who she is today. You have a character but so many things have impacted her in the last 30 years that it was like starting over, and yet, there is an echo of the younger Sarah Connor in everything that I had to create. But no, I worked damn hard. I spent a year-plus training really hard and working on her walk and exploring her deep sorrows and just so many elements, and more so, because there is a path there. By the time we started, I felt ready, but a year-plus before that, I was pretty overwhelmed with a sense of obligation and duty and love for the character, just really trying to make sure that we honored the past and created something new for the future."
As for Sarah Connor's current state-of-mind and latest mission when
Terminator: Dark Fate picks up, Hamilton offers a compelling tease, "
She’s a woman without a country. Her original mission has changed due to circumstances and she really doesn’t have a team anymore, she just has a thirst for vengeance, so that makes her very alone. She’s still a wildcard, but a wildcard without a real true mission is a lot more unpredictable. Basically very hard for her to find her humanity, so once again we get to take a journey on that level, to have some deep things that need to be rediscovered for her survival.
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L-r, Natalia Reyes, Mackenzie Davis and Linda Hamilton star in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Linda Hamilton and Director Tim Miller on the set of Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Natalia Reyes, right, and Mackenzie Davis star in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
L-r, Natalia Reyes, Mackenzie Davis and Linda Hamilton star in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Gabriel Luna as the Rev 9; Ectoskeleton, left, and Endoskeleton, right, star in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Mackenzie Davis stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Linda Hamilton stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Diego Boneta stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Natalia Reyes stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Gabriel Luna stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures' "TERMINATOR: DARK FATE."