"I Can't Say I Love The Film": Linda Hamilton Reflects On Terminator's Failed $261M Sequel 5 Years Later

Summary Linda Hamilton reflects on Terminator: Dark Fate's failure five years later, expressing love for co-stars and director but not the film itself.

Despite a favorable critic reception, the movie failed at the box office, resulting in a loss of $122 million and the termination of sequels.

Hamilton indicates she won't return as Sarah Connor in the future, focusing on other projects like SyFy's Resident Alien and Stranger Things season 5.

Linda Hamilton reflects on the failure of Terminator: Dark Fate five years later. Released in 2019 and directed by Deadpool's Tim Miller, with a story co-written by James Cameron, the movie acts as a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day that ignores the events of its subsequent sequels, and stars Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800. The Terminator: Dark Fate cast also introduces Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta as new characters.

Now, five years after its release, Hamilton reflected on Terminator: Dark Fate's failure during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. The Sarah Connor star doesn't regret revisiting the character, and she expressed nothing but love and admiration for her director and co-stars. However, Hamilton can't say she loves the film. Read her full comments below:

I don’t do a lot of regret. I think in the end, it holds true that we regret what we didn’t do, not what we did. I’m very glad I went back. I loved [director Tim Miller], I love my ladies [Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes], and while I can’t say I love the film, that’s because I was so attached to it. I only saw it once. I felt like it was too fast. But we did so much good work, and it was the greatest time of my life, and the worst time of my life, all rolled into one film. I was 63 or whatever I was, and it was the hardest shoot. Every day it was like a triathlon: "Now we’re going to swim for two hours and then we’re going to run for two hours." I read 40 books on that show. That’s all I could do, lie down and read, send my mind somewhere else and rest my body.

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How Was Terminator: Dark Fate Received?

Though Hamilton admits to not loving the film, Terminator: Dark Fate received favorable reviews from critics, who considered it a significant improvement over its critically panned predecessors, Terminator Genisys and Terminator Salvation. However, Terminator: Dark Fate's reviews were less than glowing and more in line with Hamilton's sentiment, as the sequel was still criticized for lacking the firepower of the franchise's first few installments. The film was also quite controversial for its decision to kill off John Connor during its opening scene.

Title RT Critics Score RT Audience Score Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) 70% 82% Terminator Genisys (2015) 26% 52% Terminator Salvation (2009) 33% 53% Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) 70% 46% Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) 91% 95% The Terminator (1984) 100% 89%

However, Terminator: Dark Fate's real failure happened at the box office. It made only $261 million globally on a $185-196 million budget and reportedly resulted in a loss of $122 million for the several studios involved, ranking among the biggest box office bombs of all time. As a result, plans for more sequels were terminated. In 2023, Cameron was writing a script that would attempt to revive the Terminator franchise once again, but he paused it to see how real-world AI develops before going further.

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No matter the future of the franchise after Terminator: Dark Fate, Hamilton seemingly won't be returning as Sarah Connor. When asked about another potential return, she said, "I'm done. I have nothing more to say. The story's been told." However, Hamilton can be seen in the SyFy series, Resident Alien, as General Eleanor McCallister, and she's set for a recurring role in Stranger Things season 5. Though the nature of her character is still unclear, with a likely connection to the Upside Down, it's possible she will be playing a villain in the final season.

Source: THR