SDCC 2019 – Terminator: Dark Fate Panel Recap

Earlier today The cast and crew for Terminator: Dark Fate took the stage at Hall H of San Diego Comic-Con and treated fans to the kinds of surprises that you really only get at a Comic-Con Panel. The panel opened with a video from James Cameron. He could not attend, but sent in a video from the set of the Avatar sequels, giving fans a sneak peek at some of the tech they could expect to see when they start hitting theaters next year. Here was his statement:

“I’d love to be there with you and be there with our cast and Tim Miller our director ubut unfortunately, I gotta stay here and work because everybody’s always winging about Avatar and how long it’s taking to get done.

I was asked to join the production by David Ellsion at Skydance adn Tim Miller who was already aboard. I came into with no particular expectation other than wanting to make the best possible Terminator movie for 2019.” He had one caveat: “If I was gonna do it, I wanted Arnold in…What do we do with the T-800? How do we create a new character for him, something no one has ever seen before? I think we came up with something pretty good.”

“You’ve got Tim Miller fresh off of Deadpool, me coming back to the franchise almost three decades later…[we’re] coming up with crazy new stuff you’ve never seen before…One thing we kept circling around, ‘Do we want to bring Sarah back? And there is no Sarah but Linda, so how to do we talk Linda into being in this movie? We asked Linda to come back and thankfully she agred and we built the story about that. Eddie Furlong is back as John. “

Yeah. You heard that right. Edward Furlong is back. Way to bury the lead! And with that, the panel was turned over to the people on stage after a brief sizzle role that showed new footage of Sarah Connor hunting Terminators.

Other than the massive news about Furlong’s return, here are the key takeaways from the panel:

• There is no multiverse or alternate timelines. There is only one Terminator timeline, otherwise , it would lessen the stakes – According to director Tim Miller.
• This story will address the ramifications of the destruction of Cyberdine at the end of T2.
• Terminator: Dark Fate will be Rated R
• Hamilton on her decision to return to the role after 30 years:

“I really gave it careful consideration because I felt that the first two were very intact and you kind of want to retire a champion,” she said. “It was the passage of time. I was very intrigued. The character is the same but time changes everything but what has happened? Who is she now?… There were so many possibilities 27 years later that I felt there was just a world of richness I could explore and then rock it as a woman of a certain age.”

• Natalia Reyes on her character:

“Daniela Ramos, a girl from Mexico City,” she says of her character. “I am a harder worker, I have my family, my brother Diego, my father, Taco, is that a spoiler? F—.” One day she goes to work and a “new Terminator” is trying to kill her. “They are trying to help me, so, we’ll see why.”

• Gabriel Luna trained with Arnold Schwarzenegger and learned to sleep for only six hours a day to keep up with him.
• Arnold on his return to the franchise:

“It’s absolutely incorrect to say I don’t need to come back,” Schwarzenegger said. “Of course I need to come back! I’m addicted to Terminator. Terminator is the movie that really launched my action movie career. I did Conan the Barbarian and then Conan the Destroyer and then Jim Cameron came to me and said I want you to do Terminator. From that moment on, everything changed in my life.” He raves about how the franchise shaped his career and the titles which followed. “I feel very indebted to Jim Cameron for having created that character.” He’s also tremendously excited that Linda Hamilton came back and Tim Miller directed it. “I think that you’ll be really surprised at this movie because it’s unbelievable and I was blown away when I saw it three weeks ago for the first time.”

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