He’s back. The firstTerminator: Dark Fatetrailer is due to arrive this Thursday, May 23rd at 10am ET/6am PT, offering our first look at the new entry in the franchise.Dark Fateis described as a sequel toJames Cameron’s iconic 1991 follow-upTerminator 2: Judgment Dayand findsLinda Hamiltonreprising her role as Sarah Connor for the first time since that film.Arnold Schwarzeneggeris also back at the T-800, with a story that takes the franchise in a new direction with new leads played byMackenzie Davis(Halt and Catch Fire),Natalia Reyes(Birds of Passage),Gabriel Luna(Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), andDiego Boneta(Rock of Ages). Luna plays the new Terminator.
Cameron is involved as a producer this time around, steering a story that’s spearheaded by directorTim Miller, who previously helmed the smash-hit R-rated comic book adaptationDeadpool. In fact,Terminator: Dark Fatemarks Miller’s first feature film sinceDeadpool, after departingDeadpool 2over creative differences. Although we recently saw new work from Miller in the form of the Netflix animated anthology seriesLove, Death & Robots, which he created.
We still don’t know too much aboutDark Fate, but it can’t be any worse than the last two reboot/sequels right? Following Cameron’sT2,Jonathan Mostowdirected 2003’s so-soTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which followed John Connor as he attempted to prevent another Skynet takeover. That was followed by theChristian Bale-fronted 2009 rebootTerminator Salvation, which took placeafterJudgment Day and found John Connor rising to become a leader. Then in 2015 we got the entirely forgettableTerminator Genisys, which foundEmilia Clarkestepping into the role of Sarah Connor and turned John Connor into a Terminator.
All three of these sequels were forgotten for different reasons, so it’ll be interesting to see if Miller can finally crack the code and make the first goodTerminatormovie in nearly three decades. We’ll have a clearer idea on Thursday when the trailer hits, so check back then.
Terminator: Dark Fatehits theaters on July 20, 2025.
