Terminator: Dark Fate footage seen, director talks characters & structure

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Yesterday director Tim Miller and cast members took the stage at CinemaCon to present the first look at footage from their upcoming film TERMINATOR: DARK FATE, a sequel that follows THE TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY but ignores the events of the TERMINATOR films producer / franchise creator James Cameron wasn't involved with.

JoBlo's Paul Shirey was in attendance for this screening of footage, and in the video embedded below he describes what he saw play out on the screen. Two scenes were shown at CinemaCon, along with some quick cut "sizzle reel" stuff. 

One scene focused on the arrival of Mackenzie Davis's "soldier-assassin from the future" character Grace in (presumably) present day Mexico City. Within minutes of arriving Grace has beaten up some cops and stolen clothing, since time travel in these movies requires the traveler to be nude. The way the nudity was presented was the first indication that TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is going be rated R.

The second scene involved Gabriel Luna's Terminator character chasing Grace and heroine Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). The chase is interrupted by the arrival of Linda Hamilton as T1/T2 heroine Sarah Connor, who put a shotgun, a rocket launcher, and a grenade to use in the scene.

The quick cut glimpses showed stuff like Luna's Terminator doing some T-1000 style things, Arnold Schwarzenegger as a battle damaged Terminator, and Hamilton and Schwarzenegger working together in battle.

Miller wanted attendees to know that Luna's Terminator has an ability that's new to these machines: 

One cool new feature, he can split so he’s twice as deadly."

Miller was very emotional and passionate about the film and the fact that he got to work with Cameron on a new addition to the TERMINATOR franchise, even getting choked up on stage and having to take a moment to compose himself.

Speaking with IGN, Miller described Reyes' work as Dani as "amazing", and also said that viewers will be amazed by what a badass Grace is. Hamilton agreeing to come back as Sarah Connor is what made the project "click" for him.

What makes or breaks a movie is whether I care about the characters when everything starts exploding. I’m sure every action filmmaker says that, but I did really try and focus on the relationships of these characters to one another. And the fact that Linda came back makes this particular Terminator fresh, this story could only continue with her in the role of Sarah Conner. That’s the most important thing for me. "Linda reinvented this character in a way that both honors who she was before and brings something new to the role."

While Schwarzenegger has said that the budget of TERMINATOR: DARK FATE was up in the 160 to 200 million dollar range, it sounds like Miller's approach to the style and structure of the film might harken back to the franchise's lower budget roots.

Because so much of the film takes place on the messy fringes of society, I wanted to bring an indie film sensibility to an action plot in a way that I don’t think I’ve seen before… at least not on a big budget scale. We have a lot of powerful, moving character moments up front, but toward the back half of the movie, when s**t gets going…. holy f**king s**t —it just doesn’t stop. And we tried very hard to make it all different and fresh — it’s not just people punching each other; it’s a roller coaster ride and I think great."

I have been checked out of the TERMINATOR franchise for a long time, but TERMINATOR: DARK FATE is really starting to win me over.

Produced by James Cameron and David Ellison, the film was written by David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray from a story Cameron crafted with Goyer and Rhodes. Miller serves as executive producer alongside Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, John Kelly, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn, and Edward Cheng.
 
TERMINATOR: DARK FATE reaches theatres on November 1st.