Linda Hamilton makes her return to the Terminator franchise with this fall’s Terminator: Dark Fate. The reactions to the early footage from the movie out of CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week were extremely positive, which is encouraging. But Hamilton herself did not mince words about the overall state of the franchise, which has carried on without her for more than 20 years until she finally returned for Dark Fate. Of the three movies made without her character, Sarah Connor, she said “They’re very forgettable, aren’t they?”

Diss.

More, via Variety, about why she believes Dark Fate will be different:

You start something and you’re invested in the franchise, but somehow the characters that you care about weren’t there. Too many people, too many story points. So I think we’ve done a good job of narrowing down the focus again so it will echo the first two films.

Those three movies made without her are Terminator 3: Rise of the MachinesTerminator: Salvation, and Terminator: Genisys. I won’t defend Salvation because I’m not a crazy person, but I will happily go to bat for both Rise of the Machines and Genisys. 

Neither is of the caliber of the first two Terminators. And both would have benefitted greatly from Linda Hamilton’s involvement, because Linda Hamilton rules. But there are interesting things in both those movies — most involving Arnold Schwarzenegger and the evolution of his character (or characters) as these deadly robots who are getting older, more obsolete, and sadder all the time. (Note that Arnold doesn’t appear in Salvation, the true stinker of the bunch, except in a CGI cameo. This is no coincidence.)

Terminator: Dark Fate opens in theaters on November 1.

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