Linda Hamilton isn’t interested in returning to the Terminator franchise, harbors no regrets for Dark Fate despite not loving the film

The Sarah Connor actress returns to the 80s in Stranger Things, but definitely doesn’t plan to return to the future war.

Linda Hamilton will be making an appearance in the upcoming Stranger Things, which poetically takes place in the era when she catapulted to fame thanks to The Terminator. Her defining performance as Sarah Connor sealed her in pop culture as one of the best sci-fi characters of all time. However, even though she would make a return to the series with the sequel Terminator: Dark Fate, Hamilton has definitively stated that she is no longer interested in reprising her iconic character.

The Beauty and the Beast TV show star recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about her projects. It was inevitably asked if she would come back for another round with the cybernetic organism when they inquired what was more likely: an AI-written Terminator sequel or her reprising the role of Sarah Connor. Hamilton answered, “AI writing the next Terminator movie. And they kill me off before we start. That’s the best scenario.” When pressed for clear confirmation, she responded, “Shoot me. Shoot me! I’m very glad I did it, but…” Hamilton does not have regrets about doing Terminator: Dark Fate, saying, “I don’t do a lot of regret. I think in the end, it holds true that we regret what we didn’t do, not what we did.”

She continued to expand on her position with the film, noting that her experience was enjoyable despite not being to receptive to the final product. “I’m very glad I went back. I loved [director Tim Miller], I love my ladies [Mackenzie Davis and Natalia Reyes], and while I can’t say I love the film, that’s because I was so attached to it. I only saw it once. I felt like it was too fast. But we did so much good work, and it was the greatest time of my life, and the worst time of my life, all rolled into one film,” She expounded. The stunt work would also take a toll on her while filming, “I was 63 or whatever I was, and it was the hardest shoot. Every day it was like a triathlon: ‘Now we’re going to swim for two hours and then we’re going to run for two hours.’ I read 40 books on that show. That’s all I could do, lie down and read, send my mind somewhere else and rest my body.”

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.