Dark Fate opened up a completely new Terminator timeline – and James Cameron threw old baggage overboard. Image source: Disney/20th Century Fox
Dark Fate was supposed to breathe new life into the Terminator franchise.
The reasons for this are complex, but above all, Dark Fate failed to strike the right chord with viewers and long-time fans. Because a very specific decision that took place in the first five minutes of Terminator 6 caused a lot of criticism. Spoiler alert, of course.
James Cameron killed John Connor
In the opening sequence of Dark Fate John Connor falls victim to an assassination attempt by a T-800which creates a new timeline. With this, the new Terminator said goodbye to the key figure around whom the plot of all previous films revolved.
In a new interview with Variety Now, five years later, Tim Miller admits that this decision was a big mistake. However, it is not the director who is responsible for this radical step, but the franchise father James Cameron himself. Miller emphasizes this, even though he certainly understands and supports Cameron’s decision:
No one had any intention of destroying anyone’s childhood dreams. There’s no need to get upset about it. A lot of people didn’t like Terminator: Dark Fate for reasons that had nothing to do with me. Starting with the fact that it was the sixth film. And of course because we killed John Connor at the beginning. But if that’s what James Cameron wants – which I agree with, by the way – then that’s just how you do it.
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In the official trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate, Linda Hamilton packs a punch as Sarah Connor
James Cameron learned from Part 6 for Terminator 7
By the way, James Cameron also recently commented on the failure of Terminator: Dark Fate. The legendary director admits that mistakes were definitely made for which he sees himself as responsible. Above all, the film is aimed too much at viewers who know all the previous Terminator films.
At the same time, Cameron is still a big fan of Terminator 6like him opposite Empire reveals:
I think the film is great. I still think mine are the best, but I put him at a decent third place. […]
Our problem wasn’t that the film didn’t work. The problem was that people didn’t show up. I’ve admitted this to Tim Miller many times. I said: I torpedoed the film before we had even written a word or shot a meter of film.
But we have achieved our goal. We made a real sequel to a movie where the people that came out were all either dead, retired, crippled or demented. It was a false start. There was nothing in the film for a new audience.
By the way, James Cameron is currently working on a new Terminator film. There are almost no details about this at the moment, but fans shouldn’t necessarily expect a reunion with Arnold Schwarzenegger as T-800.
It looks like Cameron has learned lessons from Terminator 6 and now wants to appeal to a new audience that doesn’t need any prior knowledge.
First of all, James Cameron will bring a few more Avatar films to the big screen: at least three sequels are scheduled to start in cinemas in 2025, 2029 and 2031. A completely different film project has been planned for the director after that – you can read more about it under the links above.
