San Diego Comic-Con 2019 delivered an action-packed new featurette for Terminator: Dark Fate that gives Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) a brand new catchphrase. In a year when many movie studios skipped out on SDCC, Paramount helped kick off the first day of the convention in style. The surprise release of Top Gun: Maverick's trailer helped, but the bulk of their presentation was used to build excitement for the next installment of the Terminator franchise.
The sixth movie overall is following up sequels that became less satisfying as they went, so original franchise creator James Cameron is helping give Terminator a soft reboot. Terminator: Dark Fate will be a true sequel to T2: Judgement Day and will deal directly with that film's ending, retconning every other sequel out of this timeline. Deadpool's Tim Miller is directing what many hope will be a return to form for the series, which will be pulled off partially by going back to an R-rating.
The more mature film will feature more action based on the first trailer, but the R-rating also implies a heightened level of violence and language. All of this is on display in a special SDCC featurette released by Paramount for Terminator: Dark Fate following the panel. It's filled with behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the film and offers up a few new pieces of footage, such as Sarah Connor's new catchphrase.
The release of this featurette comes instead of a new trailer that many Terminator fans were hoping would be released after the SDCC panel. This may not be another two minutes of movie footage, but it does show BTS looks at a number of scenes we've seen before and a few new sequences. Arnold Schwarzenegger is shown in the action at several points in the featurette, and Hamilton looks to have easily recaptured the commanding presence of Sarah Connor with her additional scenes. The featurette is light on the new characters, like Mackenzie Davis' new cybernetic soldier character, and takes the nostalgic approach instead.
While many other franchise sequels/reboots/continuations have tried and failed to capitalize on the nostalgia factor, Terminator: Dark Fate is in the rare position where it is only now seeing a return of a major franchise star like Hamilton. The general disregard for all of the entries in the franchise that came after T2: Judgment Day only strengthens this approach, as Paramount and Cameron clearly want audiences to know that Terminator: Dark Fate isn't like the last few films. They're saying this one is gritty, dark, and filled with action, and this featurette is a solid indicator of that vision coming to life. Now, we'll just have to hope that Terminator: Dark Fate doesn't disappoint later this year.
Source: Paramount
