Linda Hamilton on Terminator: Dark Fate’s upsetting opening scene

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

If you haven't gotten around to watching TERMINATOR: DARK FATE yet, this article contains SPOILERS.

If you have watched DARK FATE, then you know that the film starts with a scene that put off a lot of fans immediately – a scene in which a Terminator guns down John Connor, right in front of his mother Sarah, shortly after the events of TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY.

Film Stories asked Linda Hamilton, who returns as Sarah Connor in DARK FATE, about that moment in an interview that was conducted when the movie was coming out, but they held off on releasing that portion of the interview until yesterday, as they didn't want to be responsible for putting spoilers online.

Hamilton said she knew that opening scene was going to 

upset a lot of people and a lot of the fan base who just think that it has to remain true to the first two stories. The whole concept of Terminator, that John Connor is the hope for the future of mankind and then to have him cut down like that."

They went on to discuss the digital trickery that allowed Sarah to look just like she did in 1991 in this new footage. A younger version of Hamilton's face was put on the body of a younger actress, so Hamilton wasn't actually doing any of the acting on set. She was there to supervise, though, and found it 

really hard to watch on every level and just the way that she fought. She was an actress and a good actress in her own right, but not Sarah Connor and I had very little control over how she performed. I did step it up right away and say “no, no, no, no, no you can’t just toss her aside! She’d get back up, you can’t just hold Sarah, you know she’d be biting, scratching, elbowing, grabbing his arm.”

I remember telling the stunt man and this woman that you’ve got to fight harder, this is your son that he is shooting to bits and she would grab – oh and it’s not Arnold either – so she would grab Arnold’s body double and she’s grabbing his arm and I’m like “No grab the arm with the gun! Not just any arm the one with the gun!” [laughs a lot]

And you know to try to teach someone right there how to be fierce, how to be Sarah Connor, was an edgy moment …"

Hamilton said that providing the vocal performance for a younger actress whose face was going to be replaced by her younger face was "confusing and not very satisfying".

I'm not a big enough fan of the TERMINATOR franchise to be upset that DARK FATE killed off John Connor, but it did feel like a very odd choice to me.

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is available for purchase on Amazon. Directed by Tim Miller from a screenplay by David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray, the film was produced by James Cameron and also stars Natalia Reyes, Mackenzie Davis, Diego Boneta, Gabriel Luna, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.