TheTerminatorfranchise is being reborn once again, but this time another major actor crucial to the series is back:Linda Hamilton. We learned this past January thatJames Cameron, who directed the groundbreaking 1984 sci-fi filmThe Terminatorand its equally groundbreaking sequelTerminator 2: Judgment Day,was returning to the franchiseas a producer when the rights to the series reverted back to him in 2018. At that time,DeadpooldirectorTim Milleralso became attached to take the helm, and it appears the two have been quietly putting togetherTerminator 6all year.
They’re now ready to move forward, as Cameron announced at a private event (viaTHR) that Hamilton will be reprising her role as Sarah Connor in the untitled new film for Skydance and Paramount:
“As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then, it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return… There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys, but there isn’t an example of that for women.”
Cameron crafted the story for this new film, and he and Miller are planning a new trilogy ofTerminatormovies that can serve as standalones or create an overarching story. The duo assembled a writers room to hash out this new trilogy, withDavid S. Goyer(Man of Steel),Charles Eglee(Dark Angel), andJosh Friedman(The Sarah Connor Chronicles) taking part. Of course, Paramount and Skydance tried to launch a newTerminatortrilogy withTerminator: Genisys, but this is the first time Cameron has been directly involved in a newTerminatormovie sinceJudgment Day, so this is a big deal.
Hamilton will be joined byArnold Schwarzeneggerin the new film, which will be a direct sequel toJudgment Day, but Cameron and Miller also plan to introduce a new ensemble of younger characters to continue on with the franchise:
“We’re starting a search for an 18-something woman to be the new centerpiece of the new story,” Cameron said. “We still fold time. We will have characters from the future and the present. There will be mostly new characters but we’ll have Arnold and Linda’s characters to anchor it.”
This is similar to how Lucasfilm approached relaunching theStar Warsfranchise, withHarrison Ford,Carrie Fisher, andMark Hamillreturning forThe Force Awakenswhile the film also introduced new characters. Whether Hamilton’s Sarah Connor will be the lead character inTerminator 6is unknown, but it sure is exciting to know she’ll be back—especially with Cameron involved in the story and Miller steering the ship as director.
No release date is set for this untitled newTerminatorfilm, but production will likely begin in 2018 for a potential 2019 or 2020 release date. Cameron, meanwhile, finally begins filming hisAvatarsequels on Monday, so he’ll likely be a bit more hands off once production onTerminatoractually begins.
