I Don’t Even Know What to Say

Late yesterday The Hollywood Reporter reported Linda Hamilton would reprise her role as Sarah Connor for James Cameron’s next Terminator film. To say I’m shook would be an understatement.

Cameron, who has been working on reclaiming the rights to the franchise he created, made the announcement at a private event THR attended. “As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then,” the director said of the news, “it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return.” The previously discussed Tim Miller, who directed Deadpool, has been confirmed as helming the next incarnation which Cameron is planning as a trilogy. THR writes:

Cameron and Miller created a writers room to hammer out what is planned to be a trilogy that can stand as single movies or form an overarching story. David Goyer, whose credits include the Blade and Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies; Charles Eglee, who created Dark Angel with Cameron; Josh Friedman, who created the Terminator TV spinoff, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Justin Rhodes, a frequent Goyer collaborator, were part of that room.

It’s cool. Don’t worry about having no female perspective at all in that room.

And if you’re curious how Hamilton’s return will work within the franchise continuity, THR says “Cameron and Miller are treating the new movie as a direct sequel to Cameron’s Judgment Day.” Which, to be honest, is the only thing that has me slightly interested in this franchise that has done me so wrong the last several years.

Well, not the only thing.

Hamilton will be leading an action film at 60-years-old (62 perhaps by the time this is filmed). She and Sigourney Weaver are just about the only older actresses Hollywood has let do that. (Hat tip to Hellen Mirren too of course.) I honestly can’t even believe Hamilton is returning but she means a lot to me and I just want this to be good so badly it makes me super nervous. But not as nervous as when Hamilton was at a table at a convention I was attending and I couldn’t even bring myself to say hello to her. Yeah. That happened.

“There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys,” Cameron said at the event, “but there isn’t an example of that for women.” While it is commendable to hear Cameron speaking that way, he did follow it up with this, “We’re starting a search for an 18-something woman to be the new centerpiece of the new story,” so I’m adjusting my exceptions accordingly.

14 Responses to “I Don’t Even Know What to Say”

  1. Daniel Weiss says:

    My thought about the writers’ room was that it was a strong lineup, especially with “Josh Friedman, who created the Terminator TV spinoff, The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” I was thrilled to see him in there, as I loved that show.

    The follow-up line cracked me up too: “It’s cool. Don’t worry about having no female perspective at all in that room.”

    Fair point!

  2. Yeah…she didn’t seem to move around all that well, either. And Harrison Ford’s running was, uh…yeah. Let’s face it, he’s not getting away from any giant space monsters irl.

  3. WheelchairNinja says:

    I mean look, I’m NOT going to say no to more Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner. Or as anyone. I mean dang, she’s the right age—have play Leia in Episode 9. She can shoot Snoke in the face with a laser shotgun then drag Kylo home by the ear!

    In related news, I’ve been planning a trip to Harry Potter World Universal Studios for next summer with some friends, and I was excited to show them the epic T2 3D show… until I saw the news that they’re ending it in about two weeks. Thankfully I at least got to see it once, and who knows, maybe they’ll put out a DVD of the footage like they did for the BttF ride. :/

  4. QueerJock2 says:

    So they’ve found a way to get me excited about a new Terminator film. Darn it!

  5. Adrian says:

    God, when I saw this news earlier, I started looking for that EXACT CLIP where Sarah starts going off on a rant, lecturing Miles, thank you, you have given me life. It’s awesome, hilarious. I still wonder how long and how deep she would have gone if John hadn’t stopped her.

  6. I haven’t kept up with her career…has she done anything action oriented in a while? Genuinely curious. I feel like I’ve seen her in leather jackets recently…