It has been 26 years since Linda Hamilton immortalized Sarah Connor as the most bad-ass female hero of a science fiction franchise of all time, next only to Ripley from Aliens. Two other women would go on to fill her shoes in the years to come — Lena Heady in the television series The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Emilia Clarke in 2015’s Terminator Genisys — but there’s nothing like the original queen bee to show these youngsters how it’s really done.
Hamilton will reunite with Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Cameron for the next installment in the Terminator cinematic series, with Deadpool’s Tim Miller directing.
Cameron made the announcement during a private event saying, “As meaningful as [Hammilton] 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.” He adds, “There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys, but there isn’t an example of that for women.”
There is some truth to what Cameron says. Until recently with Wonder Woman stars Robin Wright (51) and Connie Nielsen (52), there hasn’t been a lot of older women in Hollywood portraying deadly warriors on screen. That was usually game for young women…and men in their 50s and beyond.
The big question now is will Hamilton be the lead? While Wonder Woman has shown that Wright and Nielsen, et al., can duke it out as hard as their male peers, they weren’t the leading ladies of the movie. If Hamilton is allowed to take point in the next Terminator movie, like she had with T2: Judgment Day (mostly), she would be the one of the first to do so in action movie history (if not THE first, ever). Cameron can sound as age-positive all he wants, but actions can speak louder than words.
That said, Cameron is still looking for some new talent to inherit the franchise should it be allowed to continue.
“We’re starting a search for an 18-something woman to be the new centerpiece of the new story. 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.”
Whoever they ultimately pick will be under a lot of scrutiny.
Cameron and Skydance are set to produce the new Terminator film while Miller is still set to direct. The movie will be based on a story by Cameron, and Paramount will distribute domestically, while Fox will handle the international stuff. Before you ask, the answer is Yes. They are planning for a trilogy. And yes…the writers room includes a bunch of dudes. Namely David Goyer, Chris Eglee, Justin Rhodes, and Josh Friedman.
