Terminator’s Linda Hamilton Reflects on Dark Fate Being “Underwritten” and Why Sarah Connor Isn’t a Role Model

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“Well, I’ve always been surprised at the numbers that want to be like Sarah Connor,” Hamilton mused. “I’m sure that the physicality that I portrayed in the second one had a lot to do with that — just the physique as well as the physicality — but she’s a very, very unhappy woman, right? I mean, she’s struggling with so much unknown, and it’s just like, ‘No, you don’t want to be like Sarah Connor. She’s a woman in hell.’ So that has always fascinated me, the way that people want to emulate her. But she’s just a woman living in hell.”

Hamilton and Schwarzenegger were both critical of Dark Fate when it was released in 2018 — particularly of the writing. Hamilton seemed to double down on that here, getting a bit more specific on the missed opportunities for her character to have an emotional resolution.

“There were some really significant, maybe… emotional moments in the last one that I wish we had lingered over a little bit more,” she said. “It was kind of underwritten, and I think Tim didn’t feel that some of it was structured properly… I just wish it had slowed down a tiny bit and presented our fans with just a few more moments of humanity.”

Dark Fate was written by David Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray, with a story by Goyer, Rhodes, James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, and Josh Friedman. It was directed by Tim Miller. The movie has a 70% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes, but that may be a bit misleading, as many critics praised the movie simply for being a bit better than the other entries in the series that preceded it.

Series creator Cameron would later say that he felt bringing back Hamilton and Schwarzenegger in Dark Fate was a mistake, and that his goal for the future was the reboot the franchise entirely rather than making new sequels. Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger said that he did not want to return to the franchise because he felt the last few movies were “not well-written,” and Hamilton said that she felt there was no more for her to do in this series.

Fans can still catch Hamilton in Resident Alien, airing on Fridays on Syfy and USA Network through August. 8th. Terminator: Dark Fate is streaming now on Paramount+.