Introduction

Terminator: Dark Fate is a 2019 American science fiction action film directed by Tim Miller, from a screenplay by David Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray, from a story by James Cameron, Charles H. Eglee, Josh Friedman, Goyer, and Rhodes. Cameron also produced the film with David Ellison.

It is the sixth instalment in the Terminator film franchise, and acts as a direct sequel to The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 02: Judgement Day (1991), while disregarding T2-3D: Battle Across Time (1996), Terminator 03: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), Terminator Genisys (2015), and the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009) as occurring in alternative timelines, following the return of creative control to Cameron.

The film stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sarah Connor and the T-800 Terminator, respectively, reuniting the actors after 23 years, and introduces Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, and Gabriel Luna as new characters. Set 25 years after the events of Terminator 02, the film sees the machines sending an advanced Terminator (Luna), designated Rev-9, back in time to 2020 to kill Dani Ramos (Reyes), whose fate is connected to the future. The Resistance also sends Grace (Davis), an augmented soldier, back in time to defend Dani, while they are joined by Sarah Connor and Skynet’s T-800 Terminator.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Outline

In 1998, three years after averting the threat of Skynet, Sarah and John Connor are enjoying life by a beach in Livingston, Guatemala, when they are suddenly attacked by a T-800 Terminator. One of several sent back through time by Skynet prior to its erasure, the Terminator kills John before leaving.

In 2020, an advanced Terminator, the Rev-9, is sent back in time to Mexico City, to murder Daniella “Dani” Ramos, who will become a threat to the machines in the future. A cybernetically enhanced soldier, Grace, is sent from 2042 to protect her. The Rev-9, disguised as Dani’s father, infiltrates the automobile assembly plant where Dani and her brother Diego work, but is thwarted by Grace, who escapes with the siblings. The Rev-9, revealing its ability to split into its cybernetic endoskeleton and shape-shifting liquid metal exterior, pursues them, killing Diego and cornering Grace and Dani. However, Sarah arrives and temporarily disables the Terminator with explosives.

Dani, Grace, and Sarah retreat to a motel. Sarah reveals that she found them because, in the years since John’s death, she has received encrypted messages detailing the locations of arriving Terminators, each ending with “For John”. Sarah has used these messages to hunt down and destroy each Terminator. Grace notes that neither Skynet nor John exists in her timeline. Instead, humanity is threatened by an AI called Legion, originally developed for cyberwarfare. When Legion became a threat to humans, an attempt was made to neutralise it with nuclear weapons, resulting in a nuclear holocaust and the AI creating a global network of machines to terminate the human survivors.

Grace traces Sarah’s messages to Laredo, Texas. Barely evading the Rev-9 and the authorities while crossing the Mexico-United States border, they arrive at their source, where they discover the same T-800 that murdered John. Having fulfilled its mission and with Skynet no longer existing, the T-800 was left aimless. Through learning however, it became self-aware. During that time, it learned from humanity and developed a conscience, taking the name “Carl” and adopting a human family. After learning how its actions affected Sarah and being able to detect temporal displacements, Carl decided to forewarn her of them to give her purpose thereby attempting to make amends. Carl offers to join them against the Rev-9, and they make preparations to destroy it. Sarah begrudgingly agrees to work together for Dani’s sake. Anticipating the Rev-9’s arrival, Carl bids its family farewell and tells them to escape. The group gives Dani tactical weapons training and plans on how to ambush the Rev-9.

To do so, they seek out a military-grade electromagnetic pulse (EMP) from an acquaintance of Sarah’s. The Rev-9 catches up with them, forcing them to steal a C-5 Galaxy to escape, though the EMP’s are destroyed in the resulting shootout. During the flight, Grace reveals that Dani becomes the future founding commander of the Resistance, as well as her rescuer. The Rev-9 boards their airplane via a KC-10 Extender and temporarily subdues Carl, forcing Grace, Sarah, and Dani to jump from the plane into a river near a hydro-power plant, with Carl and the Rev-9 following close behind.

Bludgeoned, the group makes their stand inside the plant. In the ensuing battle, Carl and Grace force the Rev-9 into a spinning turbine, causing an explosion that critically damages the two Terminators and mortally wounds Grace. The blemished Rev-9’s endoskeleton incapacitates Sarah, forcing Dani to confront it herself. A dying Grace tells Dani to use her power source to destroy the Rev-9. Dani tries to fight the Rev-9, but is quickly overpowered. Carl reactivates itself and restrains the Rev-9, allowing Dani to stab it with Grace’s power source. Carl drags itself and the Rev-9 over a ledge and tells Sarah, “For John”, right before the power core explodes, destroying them both.

Sometime later, Dani and Sarah watch over a ten-year-old Grace at a playground with her family, the former determined to avert Grace’s death and Legion’s rise. Sarah then tells Dani she needs to get ready, with Grace watching as the pair drives off.

Cast

• Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor:
  • The mother of the former future leader of the Human Resistance in the war against Skynet.
  • Now a battle-hardened senior woman and left alone after her son’s death, Sarah hunts and kills Terminators to prevent Judgement Day and forestall the coming conflict.
  • After learning of Dani’s destiny leading a new Resistance against the rogue AI Legion, she prepares Dani as she did John.
  • Maddy Curley serves as a stunt actress and body double for young Sarah Connor, with CGI applied to recreate Hamilton’s facial likeness from the 1990’s opening scene.
  • Jessi Fisher serves as a stunt actress and body double for present day Sarah Connor.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger as Cyberdyne Systems Model 101:
  • Credited as “T-800/Carl”, an ageing Terminator built by Skynet, and one of several sent back in time to kill John.
  • After completing its mission, it gained autonomy and integrated into human society, eventually beginning an emotional affair with a woman while raising her son.
  • It lives in Laredo, Texas and owns a drapery business.
  • It later joins forces with Sarah and Grace to help protect Dani from the Rev-9, although Sarah continues to hate Carl for John’s death.
  • Brett Azar serves as a body double for the young T-800, with CGI applied to recreate Schwarzenegger’s facial likeness from the 1990’s opening scene.
  • Azar reprises this role from Terminator Genisys.
• Mackenzie Davis as Grace:
  • An enhanced super soldier from 2042 who was previously taken in by Daniella as a teenager.
  • Grace was subsequently trained and raised by Daniella.
  • Grace is later part of a security detail for Daniella, and she sustains stab wounds while fighting off a Rev-7 Terminator.
  • Following the attack, she volunteers to be converted into a cyborg.
  • Augmented with technology, she has abilities comparable to those of a Terminator for short periods of time, and requires medication and nourishment to replenish her strength.
  • Her enhanced senses and abilities allow her to detect machines such as Legion’s before normal humans.
  • Grace is sent to protect Daniella’s younger self from Legion’s Rev-9.
  • Stephanie Gil portrays Grace as a 10-year-old in the present day and as a teenager in the flash forwards.
• Natalia Reyes as Daniella “Dani” Ramos:
  • A young woman who works with her brother at an automobile assembly plant in Mexico City.
  • Dani is being targeted for termination by the Rev-9.
  • At first, Sarah believes that Dani is the Resistance leader’s destined mother (like Sarah).
  • However, it is revealed that Dani is fated to take on a role akin to that of Sarah’s deceased son, as the Resistance’s founding commander in the war against the machines of Legion, with Sarah as her mentor.
  • In the future, Dani sends Grace back in time to stop the Rev-9, and she instructs Grace to seek the T-800 for aid by tattooing its location’s coordinates on her.
• Gabriel Luna as Gabriel/Rev-9:
  • An advanced Terminator that originated from Legion and was sent back in time to terminate Dani.
  • Featuring a traditional solid endoskeleton covered with liquid metal, the Rev-9 possesses the ability to separate these two components into two separate, fully autonomous units.
• Diego Boneta as Diego Ramos, Dani’s brother.
• Tristán Ulloa as Felipe Gandal, Dani’s uncle and a border coyote.
• Alicia Borrachero as Alicia, Carl’s wife.
• Manuel Pacific as Mateo, Carl’s step-son.
• Enrique Arce as Vicente, Dani’s and Diego’s father.
• Fraser James as Major Dean, a United States Air Force intelligence officer and Sarah’s acquaintance.
• Tom Hopper as William Hardell, Grace’s commanding officer in the Resistance.
• Stuart McQuarrie as Craig, Dani and Diego’s work supervisor.
• Steven Cree as Rigby, a United States Border Patrol agent
• Georgia Simon, the film’s ADR voice casting director, provided the voice of Grace’s mother.
• Edward Furlong as “John Connor reference”, a young version of John Connor created using CGI and motion capture.
  • Aaron Kunitz provided the voice of young John Connor.
  • Jude Collie served as a body double for young John Connor, onto which Furlong’s facial likeness from the 1990’s was applied.
• Earl Boen appears as Dr. Silberman via archival footage from Terminator 02: Judgement Day.

Production

Development

By December 2013, Skydance Productions was planning for Terminator Genisys to be the start of a new trilogy of films. The Genisys sequels were scheduled for release on 19 May 2017, and 29 June 2018. For the second film in the planned trilogy, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was to reprise his role as the T-800. Terminator Genisys was produced by Skydance founder David Ellison, and was released in 2015, but its disappointing box-office performance stalled the development of the planned trilogy. Dana Goldberg, the chief creative officer for Skydance, said in October 2015 that she “wouldn’t say [the franchise is] on hold, so much as re-adjusting”. According to Goldberg, despite Genisys’ disappointing domestic performance, the company was happy with its worldwide numbers and still intended to make new films. Production of a sequel would begin no earlier than 2016 because the company planned market research to determine its direction after Genisys. The Genisys sequels were ultimately cancelled.

Tim Miller and Ellison talked about Miller eventually directing a new Terminator film after completing Deadpool 2. When Miller left the Deadpool 2 project in October 2016, he took on the Terminator film as his next project instead. At the request of Miller, franchise creator James Cameron subsequently joined the project. Cameron had directed and co-written the first two Terminator films, and Miller, through his company Blur Studio, had previously worked with Cameron. Ellison felt that Genisys could have been better, so he recruited Cameron as a fellow producer in hopes of creating a better film. Cameron was intrigued by Ellison’s proposal to make a direct sequel to Terminator 02: Judgement Day (1991), ignoring the events of Terminator 03: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator Salvation (2009), and Terminator Genisys (2015). Cameron said “we’re pretending the other films were a bad dream. Or an alternate timeline, which is permissible in our multi-verse.” Other filmmakers on the project had suggested making the film without Schwarzenegger, but Cameron disliked the idea as he and Schwarzenegger were friends. Cameron agreed to produce the film on the condition that Schwarzenegger be involved. As producer, Cameron was involved in pre-production and script work, and also provided his input on the project. Miller felt that audiences had “lost hope” in the franchise following the last three films. He believed that Cameron’s involvement would serve as a “seal of quality” which would convince fans that the franchise “was going to be handled at least in a way that the original filmmaker would want”.

Cameron was involved with the film as of January 2017, and Ellison was searching for a writer among science fiction authors with the intention that Miller direct. Later in the month, Ellison said there would be an announcement regarding the future of the franchise before the end of the year, adding that it was going to be in a direction that would provide “the continuation of what the fans really wanted since T2”. In July 2017, Cameron said that he was working with Ellison to set up a trilogy of films and supervise them. The intention was for Schwarzenegger to be involved, but also to introduce new characters and “pass the baton”.

Pre-production

On 12 September 2017, Skydance Media confirmed that Miller would direct the new Terminator film, which was initially scheduled for release on 26 July 2019. The film’s budget was approximately $185-$196 million, split roughly three ways between Skydance, Paramount Pictures, and 20th Century Fox, all of which were production companies for the film. China-based Tencent Pictures joined the project as a co-financier in April 2018, ultimately financing ten percent of the budget. Tencent was a production company on the project, and also handled the film’s distribution, marketing, and merchandising in China. TSG Entertainment and Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment were also involved in the production.

Writing

Before screenwriters were hired, Miller had asked that a group of novelists be consulted on how to reinvent the franchise. Among the novelists were Joe Abercrombie, Neal Asher, Greg Bear, Warren Ellis, and Neal Stephenson. Abercrombie suggested the idea of a female character who is half human and half machine, forming the origins of the character Grace. A human-machine character was previously featured in Terminator Salvation.

The film’s story was conceived by Miller, Cameron, and Ellison, and a team of writers was hired to write the script. They included Charles H. Eglee, David S. Goyer and his writing partner Justin Rhodes, and Josh Friedman, creator of the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Cameron and the writers watched the Terminator sequels that came after his initial films. They determined that the storylines of the later films were too complex when it came to time travel. Weeks were spent working on the story which was eventually envisioned as a new Terminator film trilogy. Goyer wrote a draft for the first film in the trilogy that would ultimately become Terminator: Dark Fate.

Goyer moved on to other projects. By November 2017, Billy Ray was brought in to polish the script. Ray rewrote much of Goyer’s draft. Miller wrote the film’s action scenes, while Ray handled the characters. Cameron had a list of action scenes, for no particular film, that he had wanted to shoot over the years. He gave this list to Miller, so he could work them into Terminator: Dark Fate. The list formed the basis for scenes involving a dam and a Humvee underwater. As the start of filming approached, Cameron felt that the script needed improvement and made the changes himself. The film’s story credits were given to James Cameron, Charles Eglee, Josh Friedman, David Goyer, and Justin Rhodes; screenplay by David Goyer, Justin Rhodes, and Billy Ray. Cameron said that he and Miller ultimately had many disagreements about the film, but he described it as being part of the creative process. Among their disagreements was whether the human resistance would be winning or losing to Legion in the future. Miller wanted the humans to be losing, while Cameron felt differently. Miller said, “Legion is so powerful, the only way to beat it is going back in time and strangle it in the crib. Jim says, ‘What’s dramatic about the humans losing?’ And I say, ‘Well, What’s dramatic about the humans winning and they just need to keep on winning?’ I like a last stand. It’s not his thing.” Miller also had disagreements with Ellison.

Miller said that the destruction of Cyberdyne at the end of Terminator 02: Judgement Day is an event which would change the future “but no one knew how. And I don’t think the movies that came after it really explored that in a clean way like I believe we are, with true consequences, and it makes perfect sense for Sarah to be the one to face those consequences since they were her choices to begin with.” One consequence would be the death of John Connor, who was initially meant to become the future leader of the human resistance against machines. The decision to kill the John Connor character came from Cameron, who wanted to surprise audiences who had become invested in the character’s mythology: “It’s like, ‘Let’s just get that right off the table. Let’s just pull the carpet out from underneath all of our assumptions of what a Terminator movie is going to be about. Let’s just put a bullet in his head at a pizzeria in the first 45 seconds.’” Cameron said that John’s death serves as “a springboard for the story to show Sarah’s ultimate trauma from which she only begins to recover right at the end of the new film. She’s driven by hatred, by revenge. … Her badassery comes from a place of deep hurt and deep pain.”

Miller said that he and the other filmmakers did not find the decision to kill John controversial. Miller felt that Sarah Connor was best portrayed as an unhappy character, and he said that John’s death provided a reason for her to be that way. Miller said of Sarah Connor: “Grief has made her want to be an emotionless killing machine. And at the end of the movie, she’s allowing herself to care again, she comes back to humanity. Her shrivelled heart has blossomed again. That was the journey”. However, Miller did not want Sarah Connor to be an unpleasant and “unwatchable” character and said, “I think Sarah is tough, but it’s not uncomfortable to watch.”

Cameron believed that removing John Connor would prevent the film from feeling like a retread of previous films. Discarding John Connor allowed for new characters to be worked into the story. Miller said, “You can’t have John be a 36-year-old accountant somewhere. And really, when you think about it, he could be sort of a pathetic figure as a man who had missed his moment in history and was relegated to this banal, ordinary existence”. Describing the opening scene, Miller said, “You want to slap the audience in the face and say, ‘Wake up. This is going to be different.’ I feel like that accomplished that. I hate the violence of it. I hate the idea of a kid being shot, but the dramatic fuel that it gives the story is kind of undeniable.” In the early stages of development, there was consideration given to the idea that Dani Ramos could be portrayed as John’s daughter, or that she could have some other connection to the Connors. However, Miller disliked the idea that she would be related to them. There were never plans to feature John Connor in any other scenes besides the opening. Linda Hamilton was somewhat shocked by the decision to kill John Connor, which she believed would upset a lot of fans, but she also said she wanted the film series and its characters to evolve. She was pleased with the film’s characters, feeling that earlier sequels to Terminator 02 lacked characters the audience would care about.

Miller was dissatisfied with the final film’s idea that Dani would send Grace to the past, saying, “We set up this whole [story] where Grace is kind of Dani’s surrogate child and a mother sending her child to die for her is just…yeah, I had a different scene in mind.” Additionally, several endings were considered, including one where Sarah and Dani would bury Grace, and another where Grace’s body would be burned and sent down a river. Eventually, Miller suggested the idea that Dani would go to see the younger Grace. The ending playground scene was a late addition to the film.

Cameron devised the idea of a T-800 Terminator that is “just out there in this kind of limbo” for more than 20 years after carrying out an order, becoming more human “in the sense that he’s evaluating the moral consequences of things that he did, that he was ordered to do back in his early days, and really kind of developing a consciousness and a conscience”. Cameron considered this iteration of the character to be more interesting than those featured in his first two films, saying, “We’ve seen the Terminator that was programmed to be bad; you’ve seen the one that was programmed to be good, to be a protector. But in both cases, neither one of them have free will.” Schwarzenegger enjoys interior decorating, so Cameron suggested that his T-800 character in the film have a drapery business. Miller arranged the script’s structure to have Schwarzenegger’s character appear later in the story, to allow time for the three female lead characters to develop.

Casting

By April 2017, Schwarzenegger had joined the project to reprise his role. That September, it was announced Hamilton would reprise her role as Sarah Connor, who she previously portrayed in the first two films. Hamilton had also briefly reprised the role for the 1996 theme park attraction T2-3D: Battle Across Time, and provided her voice in an uncredited role for Terminator Salvation. Because previous Terminator films did not do well with audiences, Miller felt it was necessary to have Hamilton reprise the role. Cameron, Ellison and Miller only wanted to bring back the Sarah Connor character if Hamilton would reprise the role. The film’s storyline was devised first so the trio would have an idea to pitch to Hamilton. Cameron said that he sent Hamilton a “long rambling email with a lot of reasons why she should do it and a lot of reasons why she shouldn’t”. Cameron’s main reason why Hamilton should return was that people liked her in the role. There was never a version of the film that excluded Hamilton, and Miller said there was no backup plan in the event that she declined the role.

After approximately six weeks, Hamilton chose to sign on to the film, which did not yet have a completed script for her to read; that was still being refined. Initially, Hamilton was unsure if she wanted to reprise the role. She had been semi-retired from acting, and said, “I didn’t want it to look like a shameless money grab. I am living this quiet, lovely life that doesn’t involve being a celebrity, and you really have to think, do I really want to trade that in again for another 15 minutes?” Because so much time had passed since her last appearance as Sarah Connor, Hamilton had assumed that she would never reprise the role, and she was surprised by the offer to do so. Of her decision to return Hamilton said, “I was very pleased that all of the years had passed, because I could fill the years up with so much backstory and inner life that could power the character.”

Hamilton spent more than a year working with a fitness trainer to get into physical shape for the role. Hamilton said she put 10 times more effort into her physique than she did for Terminator 2. This included a regimen of supplements and bioidentical hormones, as well as training with Green Berets. She also took weapons training.] Commenting on Hamilton’s role, Cameron said he liked the idea of an action film starring a 62-year-old actress. Hamilton chose to dye her hair gray for the film, as she wanted viewers to see her character as an old woman. Hamilton disliked the physical training, and she had suggested that her character be portrayed as a fat person so she would not have to train for the film, although the idea was rejected.

In March 2018, it was announced that Mackenzie Davis had been cast in the film. Miller said of Davis, “I didn’t just want a woman who could physically fit the role but emotionally as well. Mackenzie really wanted to do it; she came after the role. She worked harder than anybody.” After Davis was cast, she undertook physical training for the film’s fight scenes. Schwarzenegger and Gabriel Luna also underwent physical training for the film. Luna was first considered for a role in December 2017, when a four-month casting process began for him.

The production was looking to cast an 18 to 20-year-old woman to be the new centerpiece of the story. Hamilton rehearsed lines with several actresses who were auditioning for the role of Dani, and she immediately felt that Natalia Reyes was the right choice. When Reyes sent in an audition tape, all she knew about the project was that it was a “big American movie.” She soon had a meeting with Miller through Skype, before coming to Los Angeles to audition with Hamilton. For her next audition, Reyes was flown to Dublin to audition with Davis, who was there shooting another film. The casting process lasted a month and a half for Reyes before she was finally cast. Afterwards, she went through physical training to prepare for the role.

Because the film is partially set in Mexico City, the cast includes several Latino actors, including Reyes, Luna, and Diego Boneta, who were cast as primary characters in April 2018. Reyes said, “This movie is a reflection of Hollywood now. We are just changing these stereotypes and the ideas and the cliches of what a Latino should be.” Cameron watched all the audition tapes and gave his approval to the casting choices. By June 2018, Jude Collie had been cast as the double for a young John Connor, with Brett Azar reprising his role from Genisys as the body double for a younger T-800.

Cameron announced in July 2019 that Edward Furlong would reprise his role as John Connor from Terminator 02: Judgement Day. Furlong later maintained that his role in the film was small, and Miller regretted that Cameron had made such an announcement. Furlong’s likeness was used to recreate his younger face digitally using CGI. He also gave a performance through facial motion capture footage that was added into the film. For his performance, Furlong simultaneously watched footage of Collie during the film’s opening scene and had to match his own performance with Collie’s precisely. Furlong is credited as “John Connor reference”. Furlong was disappointed by his small role, which was limited to one day of work.

Filming

Production was intended to start initially in March 2018, but was delayed due to casting. It was then expected to start during May and end during November with filming taking place in Hungary, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Mexico. In April 2018, the film’s release date was delayed until November 2019. Filming began in Spain on 04 June 2018, under the working title Terminator 06: Phoenix. Filming subsequently moved to Hungary and the United States, before concluding in November 2018.

The film, like Cameron’s initial Terminator films, is rated R, whereas the previous two films were rated PG-13. Miller said the film is rated R because “the fans kind of demanded it, in a way”, saying that “the DNA of Terminator” is an R-rated movie and that “to not do it R feels disingenuous to the source material”. Initially, certain scenes were filmed in two ways – with and without R-rated violence and language. This gave the filmmakers an alternative in the event that the film’s intended R rating should be reconsidered. The filmmakers eventually abandoned this method after deciding definitively on an R-rated film.

During filming, Cameron made further changes to the script to perfect the characters. In some cases, his script changes were submitted to Miller only a day prior to filming the scene. Hamilton rejected certain actions and lines of dialogue that she felt were uncharacteristic for Sarah Connor. Schwarzenegger also added and changed some of his own lines during filming. Cameron did not visit the set, as he was busy filming his Avatar sequels. He also did not want to interfere with Miller’s directorial work.

Post-production

Cameron, who also works as a film editor, was heavily involved in the editing of Terminator: Dark Fate. He saw a rough cut of the film in early 2019 and provided Miller with notes on how to improve it feeling it needed to be perfected. He said the film “transformed quite a bit” from the rough cut. The initial cut of the film, known as an assembly cut, was two hours and 50 minutes. Miller’s director’s cut was closer to the film’s final runtime. Three or four minutes were removed from the director’s cut, including a few scenes. Some scenes were also trimmed, including the underwater fight and those on board the C-5 airplane. In his director’s cut, Miller said he removed “a lot of stuff” that Cameron thought was important. Miller also said that he and Cameron had many disagreements about lines of dialogue which Miller thought were “poetic and beautiful”, while Cameron thought they were unimportant. Because of the lack of full control throughout the project, Miller said he would likely not work with Cameron again, although the two maintained a good relationship.

At one point late in production, Miller considered placing the opening scene later in the film, when Sarah is in the motel room explaining John’s death to Grace and Dani. However, Miller said this structure “really changed a whole lot of stuff in a negative way”, and he ultimately decided to keep it as an opening scene, in order to start the film off by shocking the audience. The opening scene was originally longer as it featured dialogue between Sarah and John. This was cut from the final film as Cameron and Miller believed that the visual effects did not hold up well when the characters spoke. Another deleted scene went into more detail on how Carl knew about other Terminators arriving from the future. The scene, written by Cameron, explained that Carl created a cell phone app to track the arrivals, which disrupt cell phone signals. The scene was removed because it was considered too humorous compared to the rest of the sequence, which has a serious tone as it involves Sarah meeting her son’s killer. A shot was deleted from Carl’s final fight with the Rev-9 that depicted ripping flesh off of Carl’s arm. Miller said, “We had to walk the line between gross and horrific”, and he described the arm skin as “hanging like a big piece of jerky”, saying, “That’s where we drew the line.”

The film contains 2,600 visual effects shots and was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. The visual effects were provided by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Scanline VFX, supervised by Alex Wang, David Seager, Arek Komorowski. Eric Barba was the production supervisor with help from Blur Studio, Digital Domain, Method Studios, Unit Image, Rebellion VFX, The Third Floor, Inc. and Cantina Creative. ILM was initially going to be the sole company working on visual effects, but others were brought on due to the amount of work that had to be done on the film. The Third Floor handled some of the previsualisation. Method Studios created visual effects for scenes involving the C-5 airplane and a helicopter crash. The company also created an establishing shot of a military base, and several shots set during the border crossing. Blur Studio handled scenes that depict Grace’s future as a soldier.

ILM handled the de-aging in the opening scene. ILM’s visual effects supervisor, Jeff White, said a lot of work went into the scene to ensure that the characters’ faces looked realistic and had the same likenesses as Terminator 02. After seeing the digital head shots, Schwarzenegger provided guidance to the ILM team, which made subtle adjustments to perfect his character’s facial movements. The ILM team also created the liquid metal effects of the Rev-9. The team studied time-lapse photography which depicted the growth of algae and fungus, and this inspired the liquid metal movements.

According to Cameron in February 2019, the film’s working title was Terminator: Dark Fate. This was confirmed as the film’s official title the following month.

Music

Tom Holkenborg composed the film’s score, reuniting with director Tim Miller after their collaboration in Deadpool. Holkenborg recreated Brad Fiedel’s original “Terminator” theme while also introducing Latino elements to reflect the ethnicity of Dani Ramos. Holkenborg used approximately 15 instruments while composing the score, and also used the sound of an anvil and the banging of a washing machine. Holkenborg described his score as being “way more aggressive” than Fiedel’s. The soundtrack was released digitally on 01 November 2019, by Paramount Music.

Marketing and Merchandise

In the film, Schwarzenegger’s character has a van which advertises “Carl’s Draperies 888-512-1984” on the side of it. This is a real number that leads to a voice recording of the actor pretending to be the character. The number references 12 May 1984, the date that Kyle Reese time-travels to in the first film.

The 2019 video game Gears 5 allows the player to play as either Sarah Connor with Hamilton voicing her character or a T-800 Terminator model. The game was released on 06 September 2019. The T-800 model was later a downloadable playable character in Mortal Kombat 11, using Schwarzenegger’s likeness, but without the actor voicing the character. The downloadable content was released on 08 October 2019. A mobile game, titled Terminator: Dark Fate – The Game, was released in October 2019. National Entertainment Collectibles Association released action figures based on the film, and Chronicle Collectibles released an 18-inch T-800 statue.

Home Media

Following its theatrical release, the film was released digitally on 14 January 2020, before its home video releases on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on 28 January. Several deleted scenes were included with the home video release, including one in which Sarah learns that Carl has informed Alicia of his past and his true nature as a killing machine. In another scene, Sarah hijacks a man’s vehicle on the highway after Grace and Dani steal hers. Another scene depicts the characters being attacked by guards as they journey towards the border. One deleted scene depicts Grace volunteering herself to an older Dani to send her to the past.

The Future

Plans for a new Terminator film trilogy were announced in July 2017. While working on the story for Terminator: Dark Fate that year, Cameron and the writers envisioned the film as the first in the new trilogy. They also worked out the basic storylines for each planned film.

By October 2019, Gale Anne Hurd had filed to terminate a copyright grant made 35 years earlier. Under this move, Hurd would again become a 50-50 owner of the rights with Cameron, and Skydance Media could lose the rights to make any additional Terminator films beginning in November 2020, unless a new deal is worked out. Skydance responded that it had a deal in place with Cameron and that it “controls the rights to the Terminator franchise for the foreseeable future”. In October 2019, Cameron said that sequels to Terminator: Dark Fate would further explore the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence, while stating that a resolution between the two feuding sides would be the ultimate outcome. That month, Schwarzenegger said that Cameron would write the Terminator: Dark Fate sequels, and that Cameron would begin work on the next film in early 2020, for release in 2022.

Although the events of Terminator: Dark Fate erase Schwarzenegger’s T-800 character from existence, Cameron did not rule out the possibility of Schwarzenegger reprising the character: “Look, if we make a ton of money with this film [Dark Fate] and the cards say that they like Arnold, I think Arnold can come back. I’m a writer. I can think of scenarios. We don’t have a plan for that right now, let me put it that way.” Hamilton said in October 2019 that she would probably reprise her role for a sequel, although she joked that she would fake her own death to avoid appearing in it, saying that making Terminator: Dark Fate “really was hard” because of the physical training she had to undergo. On 31 January 2020, Hamilton gave an interview on her future with the franchise in which she said that “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.”

Following the film’s underwhelming performance at the box office, sources close to Skydance told The Hollywood Reporter that there are no plans for further films.

Trivia

• Filming for Terminator: Dark Fate took place from June to November 2018 in Hungary, Spain, and the United States.
• Many fans and critics expressed anger over the decision to kill off John Connor in the opening scene.
• Distributed by Paramount Pictures in North America and 20th Century Fox in other territories, the film was released theatrically in the United States on 01 November 2019.
• It was considered a box-office bomb, grossing $261 million against an estimated production budget of $185-196 million and an additional $80-100 million for marketing.
• With a break-even point of $450-480 million, losses for the studios involved reached $130 million, and plans for any future films were cancelled.

Terminator Series

• Overview of the Terminator Franchise.
• Overview of Terminator Films.
• Overview of Terminator TV Series.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s): Tim Miller.
• Producer(s): James Cameron and David Ellison.
• Writer(s): David Goyer, Justin Rhodes, Billy Ray, James Cameron. Charles Eglee, and Josh Friedman.
• Music: Tom Holkenborg.
• Cinematography: Ken Seng.
• Editor(s): Julian Clarke.
• Production: Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media, 20th Century Fox, Tencent Pictures, TSG Entertainment, and Lightstorm Entertainment.
• Distributor(s): Paramount Pictures (North America) and 20th Century Fox (International).
• Release Date: 23 October 2019 (Europe) and 01 November 2019 (US).
• Running Time: 128 minutes.
• Rating: R.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link