Old Women Kick Ass: thoughts on growing old with Sarah Connor

I waited 28 years to see this moment:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It hit me with the sort of power this scene had in 1991:

via GIPHY

I didn’t even really know I was waiting that whole time, of course, because I didn’t even know it could be possible (especially after T3 ). But I was. I knew it after months of hearing about James Cameron talking another movie and my strong belief that it would be without Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor….and then, boom, they announced she was coming back!

Maybe the inclusion of Sarah Connor’s entry would have lost power once I saw the movie, due to being included in the trailers. It really didn’t. Then again, neither have those pull ups in over 28 years. I have now seen Terminator: Dark Fate three times, I hope to get to a theater again a few more times before it finishes up. I will, of course, also be adding the DVD to my regular gym line up (which is now mostly the first two Terminators, but sometimes I throw on the first two Aliens, sometimes Mad Max: Fury Road, and then there are some others, but mostly Terminator).  I’ll likely do a full and spoilery review eventually, but right now this is more a reflective journey piece although I’ll discuss the movie somewhat and towards the end some spoilers about Sarah Connor will be touched upon.

I was 29, the same age Sarah was in Terminator 2: Judgment Day according to Dr. Silberman, when T2 came out  Of course the movie taking place in 1994 or 1995 (I’m not going into the issues of the conflicting information we’re given on that, just go with what you prefer) while it was released in 1991 means I am technically a few years older than Sarah. On the other hand, Linda Hamilton was 34 at the time of filming (October 1990 through March 1991) and the release in July. So a few years here or there, both actress and character are my contemporaries. This also means that in one year half my life will have been spent with my feelings of connection to (okay, okay… being obsessed with) the character of Sarah Connor.

Hamilton and Carrie Fisher are really my most contemporary female action/sci-fi actresses I’m a fan of, but I discovered Linda late, when she discovered Sarah’s bad ass self, besides, I somehow missed The Terminator when it first came out and only saw it shortly before going to T2. Sigourney Weaver is just enough older to not feel quite so connected although I loved Alien and Aliens. Jamie Lee Curtis is totally my favorite in the horror genre and is even closer in age, but was the quintessential Final Girl in the original Halloween, so while I might have identified somewhat with Laurie Strode’s shy bookworm nerdiness, she wasn’t exactly a role model type back then. My childhood heroes were, of course, much older, not to mention sparse and more problematic. I can think of no others who really are near my age. It was like one day I had much older role models I wanted to be like (but probably butcher), then Sarah and BOOM! I was mom-age watching “kids” getting all the action. When Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the series, the movie was amusing but not a huge blip) came out only a few years after T2, I was closer in age to Kristine Sutherland’s Joyce than Buffy and her gang. Now, I’m even older than the parents on the CW’s Arrowverse shows, which has given me the characters I longed for as a teen, especially with Sara Lance in Legends of Tomorrow as well as Batwoman. (Although I admit to great disappointment that Alex Kingston’s Dinah Lance was not revealed as the original Black Canary, as in the books and would have given me a heroic peer, but rather replaced with the newly created Sara being first…they could have done both!!!. As it is, Kingston is the closet to my age of any of the other parents on these shows *sigh*)

I’ve I talked some about what it meant to me and how significant the timing was to discover this character in 1991 at a time when I was really working to figure out a Celtic Reconstrucionist Pagan warrior path for myself. Not just as fitness motivation, but martial arts as well. And simply not being a damn by-stander, so while our “activism” might be different on practical levels, there was a sense of “What would Sarah Connor do?” that kept me going at times and still does. Eventually, when I returned to the country, I also took up prepping and firearms training, all with Sarah on my mind.  Of course, I also liked the way she dressed, being partial to all black and lots of pockets myself. However, I like more accessories (Celtic-styled, of course).

When Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines came out just over a decade later, it was at first disappointing to learn that Sarah Connor was killed off before the movie starts. But it turned out to be so badly written that it was really more of a relief, especially in a way that if anyone felt they had to acknowledge the film as canon it could be that she faked it. Far better than the other options, like killing her off on screen either subjecting Hamilton to being in it or recasting her as they had John Connor. The Sarah Connor Charm School could maintain its own fanon, for us Sarah lived on. All was good. So far….

But Sarah Connor essentially got trapped in that 30ish stage as characters tend to do. In my 30s and early 40s, the issue of age was still peripheral but it was starting to show, after all I note above the realization I was closer to “mom” age than hero age already. Then when That TV Show came around my issues weren’t just that it was miscast and horribly written, but also that having them jump forward in time “Sarah” was kept 30ish when she, like I, would have been early middle aged. Of course, a middle aged woman could not be the title character of an action-scifi tv show, now could she? Seems that is still impossible.

So Sarah’s middle age was something of a mystery, although we got to see Linda in other roles and I even got to meet her Linda!!!!!in 2010. I was then two years shy of 50 years-old and with my first reading glasses, went to Chicago ComicCon to meet Linda Hamilton, who was then 54. And I remember feeling a bit “connected” as I noted readers on the table top of every woman (and Michael Biehn) I was there to see (with the exception of Kristanna Loken, the token “kid” on my list of the actors I met at the con). Of course, Linda isn’t Sarah, Sarah might have been taking to aging differently.

But there were some hints. Just before that con it was announced that Linda would be playing Chuck‘s mother. A mom-of-an-adult role, but in this case another kick ass mom far more relatable for me than, say BtVS‘s Joyce. And included homage such as “come with me if you want to live” and a shot of “Mary Elizabeth Bartowski” in lock-up doing chin-ups on an overturned bed seen on a monitor. The role was followed by her “mom” appearances in Defiance, which gave her a chance to explore struggles with bipolar disorder as it would be for someone in a post apocalyptic world where treatment was limited, and her “mentor-but-not-bio-mom” Lost Girl role.

Acacia in Lost Girl is my favorite of the three roles, despite my conflicted feelings over this series, which certainly had strong women, lesbian and bisexual characters but also had an annoying mixture of actual Gaelic cultural concepts (including faoladh, a huge part of my ongoing studies) mixed with nonsense (including how faoladh was misrepresented, never mind the horrid misrepresentation of my patron Goddess as an evil “Fae” title).  Acacia had a style that was a bit more in keeping with my own than Sarah Connor’s, actually. I mean, I might often wear the basics of Sarah Connor’s T2 look, but I have a Gaelic warrior’s love of adornment as well. So I add a lot of jewelry not to mention tattoos (which you just figure Acacia has hidden under her leather). I do, on occasion, go heavy on eyeliner like Acacia, too. And I have a much loved 30+ year-old leather, more basic style than Acacia’s but decked out in tartan and chain mail. Yeah, I love Acacia…just wish Linda played such a character on a less problematic (for a folklore purist like me) show. But, none of these three were Sarah, exactly. Although clearly all shared different elements.

In the middle of this, of course, was another new “Sarah Connor” in the retconned disaster Genisys, making the character even younger as she starts her time-traveling at 18 (although Emilia Clarke was 29 or there about, as Hamilton had been in T1).  (and also extremely horrible writing). Thankfully, this was extremely easy to ignore, even after I finally saw it as it was on a streaming service I already had when it landed there.

With Linda Hamilton appearing in the roles above, and Genisys not even a factor, it wasn’t hard to picture how a middle aged Sarah Connor might be like. It wasn’t the same as having that character right in front of us, though. It wasn’t getting to see her. It still left us with Sarah at 30something, something we could never aspire to be again. There have been few middle aged female action characters until recently, how could there be many when there are still few female action characters of any age or other designation; and even then some are supposedly “older” they’re still often only in their 40s and still often don’t survive long in the movie (I’m looking at you Wonder Woman).

The youthful focus, when we get strong women at all, isn’t surprising. We live in a youth obsessed culture, especially when it comes to women. There isn’t a minute that women living in this society don’t get the message that we’re only “worthy” when we are young and even then only if we are thin enough, pretty enough, “girly enough,” etc. Hollywood gets blamed, but that’s really a reflection, although one that teaches us “our place” and teaches cis het men where to put us. No matter a woman’s “worth” when young, we lose it as we age; first we are supposed to be mothers, then when too old for that we’re supposed to just disappear. Unless we try to hide it, fight it, pretend to be younger, but then we are mocked for that, too. And at some point we either become invisible or people get really cranky to see we’re still around. The ageist attacks on Linda Hamilton’s returning as Sarah Connor show this explicitly.

When you have been wanting representation of women fighters and the industry still falls short, it becomes even more aggravating when you realize that you’ve aged out of the small sampling. You’ve become invisible. You’re seen as decrepit, witj even the return of Linda as Sarah bringing up some seriously problematic misinformation about aging and fitness (I will likely be doing a piece on this, I have been fairly quiet on it but as a middle aged fitness professional with specialty certification in senior fitness, I have thoughts). Oh, yes, there has been some improvement which Dark Fate is part of, but there’s a long way to go to match the number of male action heroes we see of any age, but even more so for over 50.

There is, of course, Helen Mirren in RED, always to be brought up by those who wish to prove that somehow that one character is enough to balance the many older male stars/characters and we should just shut up about now. I love Mirren and I found her character fun, but completely token, and doesn’t even make up for there being three older men on the team. Not only the only woman in the “band” but “the nice little old lady who happens to be an assassin” is essentially the entire character Mirren’s given to work with. The role and the fact it’s trotted out anytime the subject comes up truly does nothing but scream the absence of strong older women in action roles.

We did have the Vuvalini of the Many Mothers in Mad Max: Fury Road and some even survived to the end. Fury Road is really the fist action movie where women were well represented, rather than token. Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa is easy to recognize as A Strong Female Character but, along with the Vuvalini, the brides Furiosa is helping escape and the older woman who helped them all show their own strength and skills. While the old women were not central, they were vital, and in a movie with so many strong women, they don’t feel as token. Still, not central.

The return of General Leia in the new Star Wars trilogy was a great blessing, although her character was, again, vital but not centered. Yet she served as a wonderful backbone for the Carrie Fisher as General Leia centering of Daisy Ridley’s Rey and then also Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose; a vital improvement from the “only woman in the entire universe” trope that unfortunately marked Leia’s original appearances way back when. I think we all suspected that Leia was meant to be central in the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker, as Han had been in The Force Awakens and Luke in The Last Jedi, if her tragic real-life death had not gotten in the way. This has been confirmed, but I’m not linking because, tbh, I can’t even bear to click on the links themselves it’s so heartbreaking. We have yet to know how much they were able to make her part of with left over footage. Of course, the character would have likely died in this final one by the end, anyway, the generational nature of the trilogy of trilogies is obvious, even if upsetting to many fans. But, personally, I’d much rather have a dead Leia in the franchise and a live Carrie Fisher in the world. We’ll never see quite the movie that might have been planned and that we might have hoped for.

Who knew it would be bookish nerd Laurie Strode who would bring an ass kicking middle-aged woman front and center ? In fact, who knew Laurie Strode in middle age would be conceived as very much the paranoid, prepping, obsessively trained sort of character that Sarah Connor was. That isn’t to say she was an actual copy, she was totally Laurie Strode,Jame Lee Curtis and Judy Greer -Halloween 2018 not Sarah Connor; she came to this place from and with her own trauma. Jamie Lee Curtis pulled off this off-screen arch beautifully, leading the next two generations of Strode women into the fight for their lives that she always knew would eventually come. Oh, and SPOILER! (but the cat’s kind of out of the bag now …and I’m so there for this too!) She survived. Because old women do not need to die to save the next generation of women warriors! 

When Halloween (2018) was announced in Sept. 2017, I still believed that there would be no return for Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor and was perhaps even more annoyed. After seeing T2 3D, I was sure it was the one and only time I’d see Linda in the role in 3D, the last time I’d see her Sarah in a theater. I was never so happy to be wrong when just four days after hearing about Curtis’s Halloween return, Cameron announced Linda was returning as Sarah Connor. Along with a great statement that older badass women are not represented enough in action movies. Followed by the rather ominous note about “passing the baton.”

There is an important factor, of course, in having women of different ages as we do see in the last Skywalker trilogy, Halloween now and Dark Fate. It gives women and girls of all ages someone to reflect themselves. Diversity is still an overall issue (Halloween offers the least diversity, with the three generations being one white family). We’re not there yet, there’s work. That certain people are super mad about it is all the more sign how much we need to break the white cis het male default. That default, itself, no longer hinges on youth as much as it did with so many favorites still in action, including Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Hollywood still loves pairing older male stars with younger female costars, or younger looking.

Sarah Connor in Terminator Dark Fate shooting Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor is not young looking. Given that she’s probably younger than Hamilton (movie is set in 2020, see my mention above about their age difference) but looks older, she totally looks like someone who has faced trauma, has probably not really slept in over two decades and doesn’t give two shits about skin care or hair dye. She does look rough, and she should look rough. And seeing unapologetic aging in a woman who can kick ass is powerful for those of us who also show our age, yet still know that we have ass kicking potential.

Because we do. Sometimes, despite maybe a few more aches and pains (but, some of us have had them all our lives, anyway) and age related wear and tear (although, oddly, the issue I currently have interfering with my training and activity is associated with far younger folk, DeQuervain’s is also known as “New Mother’s Thumb” and more recently “Gamer’s Thumb” …in my case it might be “writer with a sticky space bar on her computer thumb”) mostly we don’t all feel all that different than we did decades ago.  Especially given that not many of us who were very active in our youth were injury free then. I was always having to take breaks or work around something, it’s just that now some of those things might be “age related.” Me next to Sarah Terminator: Dark Fate standee at AMC

Perhaps because of some of the physical stuff as well as life shit that got in the way, I have to say that I very much needed to see Sarah Connor’s return right now. I needed to see her having gone through (and still in) hell at a time when I’m feeling that. I needed to see her with gray hair and lines in her face, because …me too. I also needed to see a Sarah Connor who kicked ass as only she can. And at the side of another woman who can kick ass in a different way; not because the other woman, Mackenzie Davis’s Grace, is younger, but because she’s got augmentation that Sarah doesn’t. I needed to see each have strengths and weaknesses, that sometimes balanced each other. Grace is stronger and faster, but not so good on the long haul, while for Sarah the long haul is really what she knows.

This movie is part of a yet small trend of ending the single token female character, of women working together, of different aged women working together. This trend needs to grow. Perhaps it won’t in the Terminator series, for the low box office might have now ended it for good. Or, horribly after we waited so long for this, yet another fucking reboot which might appease those boys this upset so much. But I am glad we got a Terminator that was part of this trend, because I needed Sarah, who started as Final Girl and grew as Only One Woman Allowed, to be part of it.

It certainly plays into the mission of The Sarah Connor Charm School. It was our movie. Finally. And maybe when we needed it most.

If you haven’t seen it, get your ass into a theater seat before it’s too late!

First Terminator: Dark Fate Trailer -All The Feels

Readers have probably figured out that I’ve been pretty psyched for Terminator: Dark Fate from the moment it was revealed that Linda Hamilton was at long last returning as Sarah Connor. I was so psyched by the first photos, both official and unofficial, that were revealed that I ended up obsessing on every detail (which eventually lead to this run down of Sarah’s clothing and gear which I intend to update in the near future). Every photo reveal has gotten me more excited, Linda again looking so awesome as Sarah.

Of course, I’ve been anxious for months waiting to actually see Sarah Connor in action. I mean, it’s still rather early (except for Disney movies and some others with toy tie-ins where the first trailers are mostly to sell toys, not the movie) for a trailer. But we’ve known about this for soooooo long. There was hoping when it came out that Terminator: Dark Fate, newly officially titled, was going to be featured at CinemaCon and the cast was be awarded Best Ensemble that the following day we’d get something. We got more photos, we got descriptions of the footage shown, but as that wasn’t even a trailer we had to wait.

So this week has been a huge deal for me, from the moment Arnold Schwarzenegger posted on his social media that the trailer was 48 hours away. The next morning we got the first official poster, featuring Sarah Connor, with the road reflecting both the endings of The Terminator and beginning and end ofTerminator 2: Judgment Day.  It’s minimalist, stark even, which a perfect echo of where Sarah is likely at this point. Yes, this goes on the gym wall very soon!

Terminator Dark Fate poster

This was really the best sign I could have asked for, to see Sarah/Linda centered as completely as this. A sign that they know that for many of us, this really always has been about Sarah Connor. That we’re here for her, not the machines which all movies following T2 seemed to be based on.  Oh, there are those who are, of course. Most of them seem to already hate this movie, however, so probably it is wise not to focus on them. Oh, they’re giving us a new Terminator model that is more advanced, able to not only shape shift but split in two, and a new hero who is apparently a true cyborg, an enhanced human …maybe. But the machines are not the focus I have….I’m here for the continuation of Sarah’s story. And the beginning of Dani’s.

And yesterday morning, when I woke up early (considering my habit of keeping late hours, which I had not managed to curb the night before) so I’d have this computer up and running and pointed at the YouTube premiere page, I was blown away by a trailer that did, indeed, center around these women’s stories, with no lack of action.

Even having heard the descriptions of footage seen at CinemaCon, even with all the anticipation I have had for this, I will admit I was emotionally shaken by seeing Sarah Connor step out of that truck to kick Terminator ass. I have watched it several times and get choked up every single damn time! I’ve waited so damn long for this!

Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor with bazooka - thank you Richard Kisielka for collecting and sending

Of course, the trailer is being trashed by the toxic dudebros, sometimes apparently for the opposite reasons they were previously claiming it was going to suck for. Haters gonna hate. But I don’t have a single complaint (other than the movie being over 5 months away, of course).

Nothing is given away except one death that I think most of us expected but does blow the “Diego Boneta is secretly playing John Connor” fan theory out of the water, which is good as it was getting real old and needed to die. It’s hard to call this a spoiler when it was so obvious from the day the casting was revealed. To some of us. A “point of no return” death is an expected trope here, Ginger in The Terminator, John’s not-exactly-beloved-but-they-were-home foster parents in T2.

Grace/Mackenzie Davis and Dani Ramos/Natalia Reyes - thank you Richard Kisielka for collecting and sending

Other than that, little is revealed. We get imagery that indicates that Arnold Schwarzenegger is playing a Terminator, we know nothing more about his character yet. We see things that indicate that most of what was hinted at already about Sarah Connor and Grace now is likely but we really learn very little.  We certainly still have no idea where John Connor is.

I might not have chosen the rather haunting, dirgey even, cover of Björk’s Hunter ( vocals by John Mark McMillan, arrangement by Matt Wilcox) but I felt that they used it well. While faster paced and industrial might have been what was expected, of course, I felt that the way it was structured the music enhanced the action scenes rather than undermined them and added a sense of sorrow, longing, pain to the teaser.  Oh, I’d still be getting misty over seeing Sarah again, but I think the music intensifies it. As it’s the first trailer, just a teaser, we probably were never going to get Junkie XL’s scoring yet. Possibly it’s not ready, likely they also want to keep it under wraps. Maybe they even hoping that those who are still somehow expecting Brad Fiedel would hate this so much that they’ll be more accepting of the change. I doubt it will work, of course.

We also got a behind-the-scenes video, which gives us a bit more insight, again focused on the fact that this is all about Sarah Fucking  Connor!

No, not everyone seems happy, but all the consensus among die-hard Charm Schoolers and other Sarah Connor fans has been, over all, positive. And after decades of feeling like we were “on the fringes” of the Terminator fandom (again, we didn’t even get Sarah Connor action figures until 2004!….but we’re expecting one, along with Grace and Dani, soon from this one!) it’s also really good to see James Cameron, Tim Miller and all noting that this is about Sarah Connor!

Shout-out Richard Kisielka for collecting and sending  us the photos used here. He has also sent some close ups of items to help with the cosplay blog post and page (some confirming already that I was right about the watch despite lack of detail previously…), so that will be getting some updating soon.

I’m also working on a more detailed post on my thoughts and, yes, feelings about “old” Sarah Connor’s return and what it means to me in my midlife.

“Who the F*** is That?” – Thoughts on the Connors’ New Place in the Terminator Universe

We know more about the upcoming Terminator: Dark Fate since hearing descriptions of the two clips and montage footage shown at CinemaCon on April 4, 2019. But there is still a lot we don’t know. And one thing has been bugging some fans (not me so much but some of the talk about it kind of does, hence this) above all else. “Where is John Connor?”

I admit, I’ve been a bit nicer in my interactions about this subject on Facebook than I’m going to be here, mostly because getting down to the nitty gritty seems better done in one place. Less energy and time, too.

Despite James Cameron’s descriptions from the beginning that this new movie is going to center on Dani Ramos (initially referred to as an “18-something woman”) as well as a more recent statement from him that it’s “very female-centric,” many hold Natalia Reyes as Dani Ramos photos via IGNon to the belief that John Connor must be the Savior of Humanity. This may not be surprising because despite the obvious (because we all survived August 29, 1997 before these came about) fact that Sarah, John and “Uncle Bob” changed the future (“at least one possible future”) by delaying Judgment day all the, yes, very forgettable post T2 movies, the terrible TV show, various novels and most (but not all) comic books continued the idea that no matter what, it’s all about John’s leadership in the future. It is also not surprising that many fans are obsessed with making this about a man.

And, yes, that is there, even if most (but clearly not all, as some are so proud of it, although most of them seem only capable of vile yet boringly repetitive “tr***y” jokes about Mackenzie Davis, which do not deserve any more energy than this) of the fans doing this would not consider themselves being misogynist about it. They likely are first thinking of wanting a beloved character to return. But it is effectively , it is effectively negating the importance of Natalia Reyes’ Dani Ramos. Something which we have seen continually happening in various ways starting with early reports that Mackenzie Davis was the new central character, some even billing her as Dani Ramos, while Reyes’ involvement was largely ignored or reduced for weeks (in some cases months) by many fans and much of the English speaking press. Essentially, these theories precisely reduce the importance of Dani Ramos as contingent on her supposed relationship to John Connor.

Most of the fan theories start with the issue that John has not been mentioned by anyone, aside from the leak that Jude Collie did motion capture for at least one flashback or dream scene of young John. Apparently, this lack of mention must mean John is so important and this is going to be so amazing that they are keeping it a big secret. This leads to a lot of hope in many hearts that Edward Furlong is going to return to the role, in a big reveal.  Furlong having gone into rehab last year around the time filming started, has strengthened this hope. Some are willing to face it might be someone else, but again, a big reveal at the end. Usually the idea is that John must be in hiding from Skynet, likely bunkered somewhere.

But not all fans are satisfied just this theory, because there is the “problem” of the Dani having some importance. One theory that  “explains” Dani Ramos’s “seemingly” central role popped up in several fora after the release of this behind-the-scenes video that shows (at 0:43) Natalia Reyes wearing a short wig. This theory is that Dani has short hair because she is meant to be a decoy “John Connor” to lead Gabriel Luna’s Terminator from the real thing. This is perhaps the most transparent attempt to invalidate Dani’s importance that I have seen so far. It also makes no sense when, from early filming photos and such, it was clear that long haired Dani was actually being targeted. But, what ever.

But another, more popular attempt, is goes with John more hiding in plain sight and is based on the Diego Boneta photo via IGNfact that 28 year-old Mexican actor Diego Boneta’s character has not been named publicly at this point. His character has been noted several times both officially and in his own social media accounts as Dani’s brother. So, obviously he must be John Connor! Uh…yeah. The idea is that Dani is just his half sister, Sarah having married and settled down in Mexico city. Or maybe that happened later and they’re only step-siblings. Or maybe he was adopted or fostered by the Ramos family. But obviously the only reason she could be important is proximity to her brother.

There are so many reasons it seems unlikely. He’s younger than the character, actors are typically actually older than the character for some reas (and the Terminator franchise has itself tended towards this).  Boneta also left filming early, when principal filming that included Arnold Schwarzenegger was still going on in Hungary Boneta was in South Africa already filming Monster Hunter. Although he did get a photo in the group released to IGN by Paramount Pictures on April 4, 2019, which I use here, he was not present at the CinemaCon and included in the Ensemble Award (but then Schwarzenegger didn’t receive the award either but was there for the presentation) But the fun part of this theory has been that all of these reasons to doubt can be explained as part of the great ploy to hide the fact he is John.

This theory also feels like it’s negating Boneta’s own Mexican identity. Boneta is the only Mexican born actor in the main cast and it’s clear on his social media that he’s very proud of his culture. Gabriel Luna was born in Texas although he seems strongly connected to his Mexican roots, Natalia Reyes is Colombian. Many of the other Mexican characters are played by Spanish actors, as much of the “Mexican” filming was done in Spain, as well as likely some Mexican and other Latin American actors. While Edward Furlong apparently has some Mexican ancestry and John Connor spent his childhood in Latin American countries, it is a stretch to claim that John Connor is culturally immersed Mexican person. This theory seems to essentially say that the actor’s Mexican identity is just another “Red Herring” to fool us into thinking he’s not John and that’s really …problematic.

However, the Boneta is John theory should now be put to rest, although some are holding strong which is really why I’m writing this, by the descriptions of one of the clips at CinemaCon of what sounds like an amazing entrance by Sarah Connor:

At that moment, a truck speeds into the scene. It does an aggressive slide and out pops…Sarah Connor, who has a huge ass gun. She fills the human-looking Terminator with shells, much like the did at the end of Terminator 2, and then takes a bazooka off her back, and uses it to blow the shit out of the endoskeleton Terminator. “Who the fuck is that?” asks the girl (Reyes/Dani). “I don’t know,” says Davis.
– Germain Lussier, The Terminator: Dark Fate Footage We Saw Featured Some Serious Cyborg Upgrades,” io9 my emphasis

This makes it pretty clear that Dani Ramos doesn’t know Sarah, so obviously not mother/daughter, step or biological. It’s even unlikely that if John were her foster or adopted brother that, if they were at all close, he’d not have told stories. Or that the family wouldn’t know of his past, even if they think the whole time travel and killer robots things was all his mother’s delusion around two men who were trying to kill/save them. I’d think it would far more a “shit, you’re really real!” reaction instead of “who the fuck is that?”

But aside from Dani’s response busting the sibling theory, it’s overall more telling that Grace doesn’t know, or at least suspect, who Sarah Connor is either. If John was still the Great Military Leader Savior of Humanity, if he was one of the targets she was sent to save, she’s certainly have known about his mother and realize “that must be the Great Sarah Connor!”

“Some legend, huh?”

Which brings me to my own actual theory:

Since the events in Terminator 2 pushed back when Judgment Day happens by at least 28 years, John Connor is no longer the Savior of the story. He isn’t the one who saves humanity. Sarah is no longer the mother and teacher of the Savior. I know some fans have said that if John is not centered then the first two movies had no point, but I say that that was exactly the point of T2. Sarah succeeded in her obvious goal to save John from having to bear this burden, even if we now find she failed at stopping Skynet all together. “No fate but what we make,” is the key there. T2 changes their fate.

Dani Ramos is not being targeted by Terminators because she’s somehow in proximity to John, she’s targeted because in the timeline (“one possible future, I don’t know tech stuff”) Sarah and John created she’s the Chosen One. Either the Great Military Leader who Saves Humanity or the ass kicking mother of said leader. Neither John nor Sarah are targeted at all. Sorry, folks, this really is about Dani Ramos.

Yes, this does mean that John may not be in this movie or any that might follow at all (I do see riots if that’s the case, so it might be better if fans got use to the possibility sooner than later). He might be dead. He might be a Senator as in the alternate ending of T2 (he was a kid, as far as anyone knows he was kidnapped by his crazy mother and a guy has an established habit of shooting things up and disappearing, his other exploits are “youthful indiscretions, because he had a crazy mother, which he overcomes”). Maybe no longer being the Chosen One fucked him up and he’s in and out of rehab. Maybe he still thinks he’s the Chosen One and is hiding from Skynet for no actual reason. Maybe he’s an okay guy who just isn’t in the movie or comes in at the end, not because he’s the Chosen One but because it’s the right thing to do. Or maybe he’s an otherwise okay guy, who doesn’t show up at all because he no longer feels that’s his life.

See, that brings up what I hoping for with Sarah. That she no longer is any sort of target for the Terminators, but she puts herself in the fight because …she can. It’s why I  am totally good with the idea that she and John are not the Holy Savior Family any more. You might think that I’d be upset with that, but I’m not. I’m fucking excited by this possibility!

Because while she was always a better (for my liking, ymmv) Chosen One than some, because she 1) accepted her Destiny with only minimal whinging at first that she then stopped and went out and learned so she could prepare John, 2) came to question her and John’s Destiny and instead used that training to try to save him from it and 3) did this with no superpowers (I like superheroes, too, they’re fun; but it’s always cooler and far more inspirational to me to see someone “normal’ train up to kick ass). But she still did all of that because she felt she had to. Whether accepting their Fate or storming against their Fate, it was the duty she’d be stuck with.

Now, if my theory is correct, she no longer Fated to fight Terminators. Oh, the whole “Dark” part of Dark Fate is thought to indicate she might feel responsible due to changes her choices have caused. Cameron said that she has gone through much more tragedy that has “hardened” and made her “Maybe less likable, but stronger.” A line that has led to “her choices killed John” theories. But even guilt isn’t the same as Fate. In fact, if you feel that your actions made things worse, it can lead to you inaction rather than action. (Hmmm…we’ve seen that somewhere before, seemed to upset a lot of supposed fans of another franchise)Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor via IGN

So when she comes storming into the battle and saves Dani and Grace, she may be doing this without any sense that it’s what she has to do. She may feel it’s what she should do because she might feel it’s her fault. She may feel it’s what she should do because she is one of, maybe, two people who know what the fuck is going on. She does, after all, have a rather rare skill set that allows her to fight killer robots. She may feel it’s what she should do because she’s not a damn bystander hoping someone else will anymore, it’s just her nature. But she wouldn’t be doing this because she’s the Chosen One. Or because she herself or her child is in danger, because if they aren’t the Chosen Ones, Skynet doesn’t care either.

And this would make her even more interesting, make her more relatable. How many of us feel we are Chosen Ones? Well, okay, I know a few people who do but still, really, I think most people know they are not.  But we might act on something due to guilt, we might act on something because it’s something we’ve prepared for and we probably all hope that when the shit goes down we would act on something because our nature is to act and not be a bystander.

So if John is still alive in this world, and he may not because that would be an easy (lazy, even) way to make sure Sarah is even more traumatized, and no longer fated to be This Great Military Leader, will he choose to act? Will he show up at the end of this movie, preparing to be in the next ones, because he was trained all his life to fight this and he could be helpful, without be the Savior? Or will he just not.

I do think people should be prepared for the possibility that John is dead. Honestly, I don’t want to find myself in the middle of a violent riot on opening night…I mean, I try to always be ready for things to throw down if they do, but I kind of hope to just have fun that night. But either way, I think some fans need to face that this is about Dani Ramos now, it’s very much not likely that it will give you a surprise twist where John Connor is again the focus. T2 did change the future, obviously, and to be the true sequel to it that we crave, that is something we also need to accept.