James Cameron wasn’t interested in diving into a new “Terminator” film without Linda Hamilton so in order to pitch the actress on returning as Sarah Connor with ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ they started sketching out a solid film idea. Only, it appears the idea grew rather quickly, and if the upcoming sequel does well at the box office, it could spawn a new trilogy. Cameron is excited as to how this soft reboot will bring about a new story and on the creative end he, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison, and director Tim Miller fleshed out a story that couldn’t fully be told in one outing.
While ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’ is written as a stand-alone piece, it will be the first of a full trilogy if fans embrace the idea. According to the executive producer of the next installment and director of the 1991 release of ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’:
“We spent several weeks breaking story and figuring out what type of story we wanted to tell so we would have something to pitch Linda [Hamilton]. We rolled up our sleeves and started to break out the story and when we got a handle on something we looked at it as a three-film arc, so there is a greater there to be told. If we get fortunate enough to make some money with Dark Fate, we know exactly where we can go with the subsequent films.”
Thanks to the fun of time travel, it was easy for the franchise to pretend that everything after ‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’ never happened. However, what that means for the upcoming film and possible trilogy is still a mystery. As to Cameron’s involvement in the movie?
“My belief is that if you get a director who’s a grown-up and knows what to do, you turn them loose. My role as producer was in pre-production, and prep and shepherding the script. But it was Tim’s film when it reached the floor.”
That being said, in working in pre-production, Cameron felt that his job was to really have a solid story in place:
“I focused on getting the script punched up. I didn’t feel like we went into the shoot with the script exactly where it should have been. There was a lot of momentum on the project, there was a start date, there was a lot of energy and a lot of “go fever,” but the script wasn’t where it needed to be, so I quietly worked on it in the background and shipping out pages. Sometimes I was shipping out pages the day before they shot a scene. I’m not sure that was 100% always helpful, but overall, I kept the characters on track and sounding right and being where they needed to be.”
While Cameron wasn’t involved in directing, he was clearly keeping up with Miller’s progress and how things were shaping up during production to be that active with the script.
Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’? Do you think that the film will do well enough to warrant being developed into a full trilogy? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Linda Hamilton (“Sarah Connor”) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (“T-800”) return in their iconic roles in Terminator: Dark Fate, directed by Tim Miller (Deadpool) and produced by visionary filmmaker James Cameron and David Ellison. Following the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: Dark Fate also stars Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta.
“The Terminator” franchise will be back in theaters on November 1st, 2019 with ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’!
Source: Deadline
