Linda Hamilton delivers a classic 'Terminator' line in new 'Dark Fate' trailer

Ethan Alter
·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated

In case there were any lingering doubts, Sarah Connor is most definitely back. Reprising her signature role for the first time in nearly 30 years, Linda Hamilton asserts her authority in the latest trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate by delivering the franchise’s most famous line ... you know the one. (Watch the trailer above.)

Hamilton’s hilariously casual reading of “I’ll be back,” caps a two-and-a-half minute trailer that’s otherwise heavy on action set-pieces choreographed by Deadpool director Tim Miller and approved by executive producer James Cameron, making his own return to the universe he created some 35 years ago. Speaking with Yahoo Entertainment in February, the director not only exclusively revealed the title of the newest Terminator movie, but also mentioned that he was the one who convinced Miller to bring Hamilton back. “Fans are going to want to see her again,” Cameron said. “They’re going to want to see the real Sarah Connor and what time and dealing with these tragic futures has done to her.”

Based on the trailer, it’s clear that time has taken its toll on Sarah in a big way. Despite averting the original date for the machine-caused Judgment Day — Aug. 29, 1997 — the fate of the future is far from settled. Ignoring the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (as well as Terminator: Salvation and Terminator: Genisys) Dark Fate, which opens Nov. 1, picks up the timeline 27 years after Cameron’s T2, when Skynet’s attention is focused not on John Connor (Edward Furlong, who doesn’t appear in this trailer), but instead on a young woman named Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes).

The all-powerful A.I. has dispatched another killer robot, the Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), into the past to hunt her down, but fortunately she has an equally deadly protector. No, not Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800, who is living a quiet life in seclusion under the nom de Terminator, Carl. Instead, Dani’s guardian is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human that’s been upgraded with metal parts. A loner by trade, Grace isn’t thrilled that Sarah has inserted herself into this particular fight between time-traveling soldiers. But the veteran of these future wars has a personal reason for getting involved. “Why do you care what happens to her?” Grace asks. “Because I was her,” Sarah replies.

As Cameron predicted, Terminator fans are already thrilled to see Hamilton back in action in a big way.

And if this turns out to be the last time we see Hamilton as Sarah, at least she’ll inspire a new generation of future fighters. “She becomes a really important character in passing the baton to the new characters that come in,” Cameron told us. “It’s a very female-centric film, which I’m glad Tim embraced those themes.”

Terminator: Dark Fate blasts into theaters on Nov. 1

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