TERMINATOR: SALVATION was supposed to be the start of a new trilogy within the TERMINATOR franchise. That didn't happen. TERMINATOR: GENISYS was supposed to be the start of a new TERMINATOR trilogy. That didn't happen. Will the third time be the charm? Franchise creator James Cameron has been clear that he hopes the new sequel TERMINATOR: DARK FATE will be the start of a trilogy, now we're just waiting to see those box office numbers to find out if the trilogy plans are going to pan out this time.
Speaking with Collider, Cameron talked a bit about the idea at the center of this trilogy, revealing that
one of my major motivations on this film or coming back to the, hopefully franchise, was to explore the human relationship with artificial intelligence. I don’t feel we did that in DARK FATE. I feel that we set the stage or we set the table for that exploration, and that exploration would take place in a second film and a third film. And we know exactly where we’re going to take that idea. What we wanted to get in the first movie was this idea that it’s just going to keep happening. The names will change, but the basic conflict is going to continue to take place until it gets resolved one way or the other. And so I believe we’ve set that table and if, like I said, if we get the opportunity, we know where to take the story…"
The decision was made to "start simple" with DARK FATE and then bring the same creative team back to elaborate on their ideas through sequels, creating a story arc across multiple films.
Cameron confirmed that TERMINATOR: DARK FATE has so many writers credited with crafting the story – Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, David S. Goyer, and Justin Rhodes all receive "story by" credit – because that's who was in the writers room brought together to break down the story for the entire trilogy, not just DARK FATE.
We sat in the room and we broke story across three movies before we focused down onto the first of the proposed three, which is DARK FATE. So there’s really a plot line that runs all the way out through a third film, if we get to that stage. And the reason for that is you spend a couple of weeks to future-proof yourself so you don’t paint yourself into a corner and you could still do the things that you want to do. So yeah, there’s a lot of good thinking that exists already on that."
But if the sequels don't happen, it doesn't sound like we're going to feel cheated. There doesn't seem to be a cliffhanger that needs to be resolved. Cameron said,
I think DARK FATE stands alone as a pretty good one-time story."
And if we don't get sequels to DARK FATE, then we will still have gotten a new trilogy within the TERMINATOR franchise. A trilogy of films that failed to start trilogies.
Directed by Tim Miller from a screenplay by David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray, TERMINATOR: DARK FATE only acknowledges the events of the TERMINATOR films Cameron made, THE TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY.
TERMINATOR and T2 heroine Linda Hamilton returns to the franchise to play a Sarah Connor who is now
a grizzled lone wolf who must team up with a mechanically enhanced female soldier to protect another young woman targeted by Terminators.
Hamilton's co-stars include Natalia Reyes as new heroine Dani Ramos, Mackenzie Davis as "soldier-assassin from the future" Grace, Diego Boneta as Dani's brother, Gabriel Luna as a villainous Terminator, and Arnold Schwarzenegger as an older, bearded Terminator. Brett Azar and Jude Collie were the CGI stand-ins for Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong in scenes that take place around the time of TERMINATOR 2.
TERMINATOR: DARK FATE will be reaching theatres on November 1st. Our own JimmyO has given the film a 9/10 review.