Terminator: Dark Fate Director Compares Mackenzie Davis’ Character to Wolverine

Deadpool director Tim Miller says the star of his next project, Terminator: Dark Fate, is comparable to Marvel’s metal-boned mutant Wolverine.

“Robots of today, they get more and more human,” Miller told ComicBook.com, adding Gabriel Luna’s seemingly unstoppable Terminator is “more human than [robot].”

Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 model, Luna’s Terminator “can blend in,” Miller added. “He’s not this big, solid, tank of a person like Arnold is, and the way he fights is not that way either. He’s fast and lethal.”

Enter Mackenzie Davis‘ Grace, a half-human, half-machine hybrid sent back in time to serve as the protector of Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes).

“Then you bring Mackenzie’s character into it, who is an augmented human who’s strong — she’s like Wolverine,” Miller said. “She’s very durable, very strong, very fast, and it’s all about speed with her.”

Mixing in Schwarzenegger’s protector Terminator — who teams with a disapproving Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) — Arnold is “the tank, if you want to use the game references,” Miller said. “And just designing those action scenes with Sarah in there as this protector character as well, it was pretty incredible.”

Miller previously declared he doesn’t “give a f—” about misogynistic backlash inspired by Davis’ Grace, who Miller expects to be a hit with audiences.

“If you’re at all enlightened, she’ll play like gangbusters. If you’re a closet misogynist, she’ll scare the f–k out of you, because she’s tough and strong but very feminine,” the director previously told Variety when asked to comment on “chauvinist hate speech” facing the female-led film. “We did not trade certain gender traits for others; she’s just very strong, and that frightens some dudes. You can see online the responses to some of the early s–t that’s out there, trolls on the internet. I don’t give a f–k.”

The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day writer-director James Cameron returns to the franchise as producer with Dark Fate, which Cameron said was designed as the first part of a three-movie arc.

Starring Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Terminator: Dark Fate opens November 1.