Terminator’s Linda Hamilton not optimistic about playing Sarah Connor again

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Moviegoers are clearly not interested in the TERMINATOR franchise as large scale action spectacles anymore. The last three entries were all supposed to kick off a trilogy of films, but none of them did well enough financially to warrant a direct sequel. So what we ended up with is a trilogy of movies that failed to start trilogies – 2009's TERMINATOR: SALVATION, 2015's TERMINATOR: GENISYS, and last year's TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (which is available on DVD/Blu HERE).

The failure of DARK FATE was most surprising to me, because that one had franchise creator James Cameron returning to produce and craft the story, and Linda Hamilton back in the role of THE TERMINATOR / TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY heroine Sarah Connor – a character who was said to be dead in TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES, but could return because DARK FATE ignored the events of RISE OF THE MACHINES, SALVATION, and GENISYS.

Made on a budget of $185 million, DARK FATE pulled in just $261 million at the global box office. Cameron had already mapped out the stories of two sequels with a writers room that included David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes, Charles Eglee, and Josh Friedman, but we're probably not going to see those stories play out in anyway.

If a sequel to DARK FATE had been put on the fast track, Hamilton probably would have been in it as Sarah Connor again. But even though Hamilton had a good time making DARK FATE and formed bonds with director Tim Miller and co-stars Natalia Reyes and Mackenzie Davis, she's fine not making any more TERMINATOR movies. When asked if she was optimistic about someday playing Sarah again, she told The Hollywood Reporter, 

I would be quite happy to never return. So, no, I am not hopeful because I would really love to be done. But, if there were something new that really spoke to me, I am a logical person, and I will always consider viable changes."

Hamilton also suggested that the budget should be lower if another TERMINATOR movie were to be made. 

I would really appreciate maybe a smaller version where so many millions are not at stake. Today’s audience is just so unpredictable. I can’t tell you how many laymen just go, 'Well, people don’t go to the movies anymore.' That’s not Hollywood analysis; that just comes out of almost everybody’s mouth. It should definitely not be such a high-risk financial venture…"

That is really the lesson any producer or studio who might want to make another TERMINATOR should learn from the receptions of SALVATION, GENISYS, and DARK FATE. They have to stop making these movies on budgets in the 150 to 200 million range, because the audience isn't there for it.