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Linda Hamilton Wanted A Fat Sarah Conner In Terminator: Dark Fate
Linda Hamilton wanted a fat Sarah Connor in Terminator: Dark Fate. The actress that originated the role of the legendary Sarah Connor in the first two Terminator films wanted to make sure her return to the franchise packed an epic punch.
Sarah Connor enjoys relative peace with her son John at the beginning of Terminator: Dark Fate, until Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator guns John down right in front of her in a shocking opening twist. Enraged and grief-stricken, Sarah spends the rest of her life hunting down the time-traveling killing machines, which leads her to cross paths with Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes) and Grace (Mackenzie Davis), the Resistance super soldier from the future protecting Dani. At first, Sarah assumes that a new and deadlier Terminator, called a Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna), is hunting Dani because she is destined to give birth to a son (who will be the hero of the future Resistance) like she was with John. However, she soon discovers that it is Dani, who is destined to be the new Resistance hero.
In an interview with CinemaBlend, Linda Hamilton delved into the ideas she pitched for potential ways Sarah could return in Terminator: Dark Fate, with an emphasis on shock factor. After all, the last time Hamilton played Sarah Connor was in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgement Day. One of her pitches was to reintroduce audiences to an overweight Sarah. "The shock value, I think, sort of plants everybody in, immediately," she said about the rejected idea, "I actually kept arguing that maybe she should just be fat. That would have shock value too."
Hamilton also added that she dyed her hair grey to emphasize the passage of time, saying she wanted the audience to think: "that ain’t the old Sarah Connor, that’s the old Sarah Connor." Her dedication to ensuring that the character's return is given the proper epic treatment it deserves is admirable, and further proves why Hamilton is the quintessential Sarah Connor. (Although she's said she'd like to be done with the character now.) Sarah ultimately returned in Terminator: Dark Fate with muscles for days and not an ounce of fat, but Hamilton's commitment to making certain her character had a memorable return is something to be admired. Plus, making her fat definitely would've been a unique way to show that the legendary heroine is also human, and there's nothing wrong with that.
Terminator: Dark Fate may have been a box office bomb, but Sarah Connor's fine return to form was incredibly well done. Too often, big-budget franchises will rush a major character's return, or bring a beloved character back, even though it doesn't make sense to the overall story, but that's not the case with Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor. She owns every scene she's in, and frankly, the movie wouldn't have been nearly as good without her well-earned return. While the future of the Terminator franchise is still up in the air, Hamilton remains responsible for portraying one of the most epic sci-fi heroines ever, regardless of what shape or age Sarah Connor happens to be.
