Tim Miller Discusses Terminator: Dark Fate Characters

Terminator: Dark Fate is riding a huge amount of hype heading into San Diego Comic-Con this weekend. It has a big panel planned tomorrow, where the stars and director, Tim Miller, are expected to show off first footage from the film. But beforehand, Miller spoke with Entertainment Weekly about what to expect from the new characters in Dark Fate.

First and foremost, he spoke about the evolution of the Terminators, played by Gabriel Luna. As most fans saw in the trailer, they’ve grown quite a bit, transforming into a new model.

“There’s this new future because of what Sarah did at the end of Terminator 2, and it’s worse than ever, and that gives us the opportunity for these new characters,” Miller explained.

He went on to say that Luna’s character isn’t a unit from franchise pillar Skynet. But it’s something LIKE Skynet, and he’s got some augmentations.

“This Terminator is a lot more human than a regular Terminator has been, which makes sense because computers are human, they understand us more every day.”

The director then spoke about Grace, a new character played by Mackenzie Davis. She’s actually a cross-hybrid human/machine character, one who serves as a guardian.

“Mackenzie comes from something that Kyle Reese and the Resistance did… I really liked her origin story. We did an early writer’s room and Joe Abercrombie came up with her as this super soldier from the future, but it comes at a cost to be one of these people. They’re the first people to die, they’re the shock troops who protect the rest of humanity, and her readiness to sacrifice is a really interesting way to come at a character.”

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He continued, “It would be easy to go, ‘Okay, you’re going to get some woman who’s an ex-MMA fighter or all about fitness and fighting, but I knew that she really had to connect. Because Sarah in a lot of ways is broken, and I knew that the audience would relate a lot to what had happened to humanity’s future, and as you’ll see in the film, the audience has to really feel for Grace by the end of it. And so I knew first and foremost, she had to be a great actor and Mackenzie is definitely that.”

Finally, Miller hinted at what fans should expect from Schwarzenegger’s T-800, who was briefly shown in the trailer.

“I don’t think people will be ready for what Arnold has become either, because it’s very different.” No word yet if he’ll have the T-1000 abilities from the end of Terminator: Genisys, but it’s not very likely.

We’ll possibly learn more about the film following tomorrow’s panel.

Terminator: Dark Fate releases on November 1. What do you think about the new characters included in the film? Let us know in the comments below!

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