Tim Miller's Terminator: Dark Fate wielded a double-edged sword: it opted to ditch several of the franchise's later offerings and inserted itself into the storyline instead as a direct sequel to James Cameron's 1991 classic, T2: Judgement Day. Featuring the long-awaited return of franchise legend Linda Hamilton, Dark Fate also introduced audiences to the Rev-9, the latest in assassin artificial intelligence. Morphing the brutal strength of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 and the fluid, metallic viscosity of Robert Patrick's T-1000, the Rev-9 was arguably twice as effective, able to detach its mimetic polyalloy exterior from its endoskeleton and operate each as its own unit. Now that the film is available on Digital, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD, Screen Rant had the pleasure of catching up with Gabriel Luna, the 37-year-old action star who plays Rev-9, about his experiences carrying on the Terminator legacy.

The physicality of the Terminator is an integral part of each film. Coming in behind the T-800 and the T-1000, what sorts of things did you want to keep from those portrayals and what did you yourself want to add to the character?

Gabriel Luna: As far as what I love from those first two films, I wanted to maintain the threat and be a strong, fresh antagonistic presence on the screen. Of course, to maintain all of that, you can't fix what wasn't broken. Personally, I had to get my body worked out, which was rejuvenating, and I put on 16, 17 pounds by the time Arnold [Schwarzenegger] got there in June. At that point, I turned it on to eleven. My body transformation really started to accelarate; he was really helpful with that.

I obviously wanted to be strong and able-bodied like Arnold, while also maintaining my agility. The first question they asked me was, "are you fast?" And I said, "yeah, man I'm fast!" So I wanted to stay that way and keep things balanced.

Arnold was obviously the tank of the Terminator image, and the T-1000 was much more fluid and much more agile fluid with absolutely no structural integrity. You know, it could be splattered into a million little drops. So the great thing about the character I play is that he's a beautiful combination of the two. I just wanted audiences to be fully embodied in those moments and not get bored [of my character].

Rev 9 and T-800 terminator dark fate

Well if there's anything more difficult than living up to the Arnold legacy it is trying to live up to the Arnold body.

Gabriel Luna: Yeah [laughs].

With that in mind, there are many films and filmmakers that are reigniting blockbuster franchises and producing reboots of classic movies. What do you think is the most important thing for an actor to realize when they’re stepping into an established and cherished story?

Gabriel Luna: I think that the love comes across. In my experience with Terminator, I wanted to show how much I love the Terminator films, you know what I mean? How much Linda Hamilton knows and loves the character of Sarah Connor. I think bringing all of my fandom to the shoot – while also maintaining a professional [outlook] – and displaying my investment in the story really shows in the final product.

You know, you're playing in a Terminator movie, man, so you want to be the best version of the character you can be. These films have established so many ideas when it comes to AI and science-fiction, and I love everything that comes across them. And when you get the ones involved that truly love [the franchise] and know it, I think it always helps.

When it comes to Dark Fate, we have to talk about the special effects because this film makes ample use of what’s available in both its practical and visual effects – especially when it comes to your character. Were there any challenges in delivering an action performance that relied so heavily on effects that you couldn’t control or you could not interact with?

Gabriel Luna: No, I just stayed as welcoming to the techniques as I could be. I'm a big movie geek so spending time with the men and women at Industrial Light & Magic was just amazing: the same tracking marker that touched Al Pacino's face in The Irishman touched mine so there were a lot of great moments to share with [our team].

So yeah, I just rolled with the punches.I would carry around foam blades all day just to have something [to work around] and at one point, I taped them to my hands just to have the weapon there. That was a pretty low-tech kind of solution that day, just taping shit to my hands.

Being a movie geek, I'm sure you totally gawked at the opportunity to –

Gabriel Luna: Oh yeah, all the effects were great.

Gabriel Luna as the Rev-9 in Terminator Dark Fate

I wanted to talk a bit about Mexico because the country has always played an important role throughout these films but never more so than in Dark Fate. But beyond it being the actual setting, this film has cast two Latin-American actors in its primary roles and even manages to find room for some political commentary. How important were those elements for you to be a part of?

Gabriel Luna: You hit it right on the head. Mexico is ingrained in the DNA of this story; it's a very important place for Sarah as a character and where she would go to lick her wounds and set herself straight before a fight. I love that the first half of our film takes place in Mexico City, culminating in a crossing of the border. As you well know, that border's been crossed by people for thousands of years and now, we have the situation we have where people are being detained. But when we were making the film, that information was just coming to surface, and we wanted to incorporate that into our story because it's an atrocity and we didn't want this atrocity to go unseen.

We were thinking that moment would be a quick note or a mark of what that situation was. But unfortunately when the film came out, it was still the truth and it was still happening.

But I'm proud of the filmmakers, and I'm proud of Tim for incorporating that into the story and not trying to beat people over the head with it. Just show them the truth and let them see it for themselves.

As a clear fan and now a member of the franchise, where do you want to see Terminator go next?

Gabriel Luna: Oh man. Well, I've been telling everyone that we need to have a standalone REV-9 [movie] with a full discovery and a full ventilation of the guy's life and who the human was.

[One idea that I like] is the resistance fighters seeing an opponent, an enemy, a Terminator with the face of someone they followed and adored.

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Terminator: Dark Fate is now available on Digital/4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray.