Terminator: Dark Fate has officially earned an R rating

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is the result of the return of a lot of classic TERMINATOR elements. Franchise creator James Cameron is back as producer and helped craft the story, THE TERMINATOR heroine Linda Hamilton is back for the first time since TERMINATOR 2, and T2's Edward Furlong is in there as well. Franchise regular Arnold Schwarzenegger is also in the cast, as expected.

Now it has been revealed that TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is also the franchise's return to R rating territory. Although TERMINATOR: SALVATION and TERMINATOR: GENISYS were rated PG-13, the first three movies were all R. (Honestly I thought TERMINATOR 3 was the beginning of the PG-13 streak, but turns out it was R after all.)

The MPAA has given DARK FATE its R for 

violence throughout, language and brief nudity.

Sounds about right.

Written by David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray from a story by Cameron, Goyer, Rhodes, Charles Eglee, and Josh Friedman, this sequel only acknowledges the events of the first two TERMINATOR movies, ignoring the ones that Cameron wasn't involved with. 

DEADPOOL's Tim Miller directed the film, which finds that Hamilton's Sarah Connor is now 

a grizzled lone wolf who must team up with a mechanically enhanced female soldier to protect another young woman targeted by Terminators. 

The returning stars are joined in the cast by Natalia Reyes as new heroine Dani Ramos, Mackenzie Davis as "soldier-assassin from the future" Grace, Diego Boneta as Dani's brother, and Gabriel Luna as a villainous Terminator. Brett Azar and Jude Collie were the CGI stand-ins for Schwarzenegger and Furlong in scenes that take place during the time of TERMINATOR 2.

The reasons for TERMINATOR: DARK FATE's R rating will be displayed on the big screen when the film is released on November 1st.