Although Arnold Schwarzenegger’s face is the one folks usually envision first when thinking about Terminators, as we’ve seen numerous times over the decades, that’s not the only visage these cybernetic assassins use. This year’s Terminator: Dark Fate will throw several new Terminators into action, including one played by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. actor Gabriel Luna. What distinguishes this Terminator model from the others? Well, he has the ability to split himself in two!
During the Paramount presentation at CinemaCon today, Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller came out to plug his latest movie, which he worked on closely with the man who launched this sci-fi saga, James Cameron, who is serving as a producer on Dark Fate. One of the things he revealed is how Gabriel Luna’s Terminator can duplicate itself. This is a byproduct of Luna’s Terminator either being a T-1000 model or a more advanced model with those same liquid metal properties. The T-1000 model was previously played by Robert Patrick in Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Lee Byung-hun in Terminator Genisys.
There was also footage from Terminator: Dark Fate screened that showed Gabriel Luna’s Terminator in action. One shot began with him starting as a black puddle and then rising up to assume his human form. Later on, he was seen chasing after Natalia Reyes’ Dani Ramos and Mackenzie Davis’ Grace. Then another Terminator that was basically an all-black metal skeleton showed up, indicating that this could be the Luna duplicate, and that Dani and Grace are now being attacked on two fronts. Fortunately for them, Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor arrives with guns blazing to help the other women out of their troublesome predicament.
The T-800 model may still be the most common Terminator model that Skynet churns out, but there’s no denying that the T-1000 is an even greater killing machine. Its shapeshifting abilities allow it to disguise itself as anybody or anything it sees, as well shrug off all physical injuries. Robert Patrick’s T-1000 was only finally defeated by being pushed into a vat of molten steel, while Lee Byung-hun’s iteration was neutralized when it was caught in a shower of hydrochloric acid. Presumably Gabriel Luna’s model shares these few weaknesses, but the fact that it can split itself in two means that even if the Terminator: Dark Fate protagonists manage to destroy one copy, they’ll have to put just as much effort, if not more, into taking out the other. Talk about upping the stakes!
No specific plot details for Terminator: Dark Fate have been revealed yet, although rather than follow the events of Terminator Genisys, this movie is a direct sequel to The Terminator and Terminator 2, and will ignoring the other sequels. Along with Linda Hamilton reprising Sarah Connor, Arnold Schwarzenegger will return once more to play an older T-800 model. Diego Boneta and Enrique Arce are also part of the main cast, and Jude Collie serves the body double for the young John Connor, with Edward Furlong’s facial likeness from Terminator 2 being digitally applied.
Terminator: Dark Fate hits theaters on November 1. Be sure to look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies are coming out this year.
