Terminator: Dark Fate Director Says the Franchise Is "Tainted"

The Terminator franchise is set to return in Terminator: Dark Fate. The film follows up on where Terminator 2: Judgement Day left off, ignoring the events of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation, and Terminator Genisys. Even so, director Tim Miller says the franchise has a stigma it needs to shake off. "I think the brand has been tainted a little bit," Miller tells Total Film. "I don't want to disparage the work of any of those movies, and some of them were interesting, but I feel like they just played in the world of The Terminator – it was essentially a different thing. T2 was just one of those events that was a f------ revelation. It's one of those films that everyone remembers what they were doing when they first saw it. I still don't think I realize what I'm doing trying to follow that up…"

In Terminator: Dark Fate, "27 years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a new, modified liquid metal Terminator (Gabriel Luna) is sent from the future by Skynet in order to terminate Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes), a hybrid cyborg human (Mackenzie Davis), and her friends. Sarah Connor comes to their aid, as well as the original Terminator, for a fight for the future."

The new film sees James Cameron returning to the franchise. He's joined by Terminator and T2 stars Linda Hamilton as Sarah Conner and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the original T-800 Terminator.

"It was a very interesting film to do with [director Tim Miller]," Schwarzenegger has said. "The dynamic, between him and with Jim Cameron producing. So Jim Cameron is right now directing Avatar films so he's taken on this enormous challenge and he's very busy with that BUT he's a control freak and as you know, Terminator is kind of his baby. So he does get involved in the filming. There were interesting discussions about which direction to go with a certain scene or how the dialogue should finish or what the certain look should be of an individual and all that stuff so there was a big collaboration between Jim and Tim Miller. I feel it was in good hands with both of them."

Mackenzie Davis plays Grace, a cyborg assassin. Natalia Reyes plays Dani, a young girl targeted by an advanced Terminator prototype played by Gabriel Luna.

Are you excited about Terminator: Dark Fate? Let us know in the comments. Terminator: Dark Fate opens in theaters on November 1st.