Terminator: Dark Fate was ‘kind of underwritten’, Linda Hamilton says

Linda Hamilton has admitted Terminator: Dark Fate was “kind of underwritten”.

The 68-year-old actress reprised her role as Sarah Connor in the controversial 2019 action blockbuster, though has now conceded director Tim Miller could have used a little longer to bring out the “humanity” of the story.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, she said: “There were some really significant, maybe … emotional moments in the last one that I wish we had lingered over a little bit more.

“It was kind of underwritten, and I think Tim didn’t feel that some of it was structured properly … I just wish it had slowed down a tiny bit and presented our fans with just a few more moments of humanity.”

Reflecting on Sarah Connor and the impact she has had on pop culture, Hamilton admitted she was “surprised” by the number of people who were inspired by the action heroine, and described the character as a “woman in hell”.

She mused: “Well, I’ve always been surprised at the numbers that want to be like Sarah Connor. She physique as well as the physicality - but she’s a very, very unhappy woman, right?

“I mean, she’s struggling with so much unknown, and it’s just like, ‘No, you don’t want to be like Sarah Connor. She’s a woman in hell.’

“So that has always fascinated me, the way that people want to emulate her. But she’s just a woman living in hell.”

In Terminator: Dark Fate - which also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis and Edward Furlong - a new advanced Terminator is sent to kill a young woman whose fate is key to humanity’s future.

To protect her, Sarah Connor and a cybernetically enhanced soldier join forces in a fight for survival.

Following Terminator: Dark Fate - which was the first time Hamilton had played Sarah Connor since 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day - the actress insisted she was done with the franchise and didn’t want to return as the action heroine again.

When asked about her Terminator future by Business Insider, she said: “I'm done. I'm done. I have nothing more to say. The story's been told, and it's been done to death.”

Director and producer James Cameron previously revealed that he was “in discussion” for a Terminator reboot, but Hamilton sees little point in reviving the series once again.

She said: “Why anybody would relaunch it is a mystery to me. But I know our Hollywood world is built on relaunches right now.”

The Terminator himself Arnold Schwarzenegger also said he was “done” with the series following Terminator: Dark Fate.

He told The Hollywood Reporter: “The franchise is not done. I’m done. I got the message loud and clear that the world wants to move on with a different theme when it comes to The Terminator.

“Someone has to come up with a great idea. The Terminator was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly.

“The first three movies were great. Number four [Salvation], I was not in because I was governor. Then five [Genisys] and six [Dark Fate] didn’t close the deal as far as I’m concerned. We knew that ahead of time because they were just not well written.”