In mid 2019 major plot leaks for Terminator: Dark Fate hit Reddit; these leaks described (more or less) the entire plot of the movie. We always stood by our belief that the leaks were orchestrated by the studios (Paramount Pictures and Skydance). What we suspected could seem unbelievable to many people, and whilst this is understandable – it is also important to note that Tencent (one of Terminator: Dark Fate’s major investors), invested $300 million into Reddit just a couple of months before those leaks took place.
The Terminator: Dark Fate leaks were allowed to remain on Reddit, and be discussed freely around the internet (including on this website), though most major outlets kept their distance; whether that was due to disbelief of the information / source, or, perhaps as a means of adding an underground and clandestine sense of secrecy to the unfolding information – to make the fanbase feel as if they were privy to something known only by the select few, to create a feeling of investment in paying to see if, and how, the mighty John Connor would get shotgun-blasted in the sixth installment of the franchise.
No one faced any repercussions for leaking the potentially damaging information and there were no reports of ‘cease and desist’. Reddit then went on to have a strong relationship with Dark Fate (for example an AMA – ‘ask me anything’ that took place with cast and director Tim Miller) on the platform; Terminator Genisys also had a strong relationship with Reddit.
Studio-controlled-leaks aren’t a new development, and looking back, it seems more obvious than ever.
So, what does that have to do with new information that has come to light? Well, the leaks revealed that Grace (Mackenzie Davis) would die in Dark Fate as part of a sacrifice to save new savior Dani Ramos – the death of John Connor was also leaked, and most of the information turned out to be true.
A few months after the leaks, in October 2019, TheTerminatorFans.com came across a video which had been released to Korea to promote Terminator: Dark Fate. James Cameron featured in this promo, via a live stream speaking to an audience, and he said the following regarding the planned trilogy…
“We have a plan for what happens next with Sarah, we have a plan for what happens next with Dani, we have a plan for – how they cross paths with Grace again.”
James Cameron – Transcribed by TheTerminatorFans.com
Mr. Cameron saying this obviously added even more legitimacy to the plot leaks (that many fans were in firm belief of being true anyway) and at that point LEGION’s existence in the movie had been proven again, with what we believe was another studio action.
Mackenzie Davis is currently promoting her new project; ‘Happiest Season‘ (funnily enough, she’s playing a character called Harper – a name shared with her character of Grace Harper in Dark Fate), and whilst being interviewed, the subject of Terminator: Dark Fate arose, with Mackenzie revealing a little more information about the previously planned future of a Dark Fate sequel…
“It was gonna be a sort of timeline thing, sort of, where there’d be another timeline that you’d explore, like she would- there’s no resurrection, but um, she came from the future, so…”
Mackenzie Davis told the Happy Sad Confused podcast
What is funny is; we ran an article / theory recently asking if Terminator: Dark Fate was really a sequel to Terminator Genisys (and T2 at the same time), though many people seemed to misunderstand the crux of the piece, and judged the content by its title alone. In the article we explored the idea of the multiverse and how it does connect back, but there’s one problem…
Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller insisted that there is only ONE TIMELINE in regards to the, universally agreed canon, Terminator movies, which he claimed his movie was part of, the opposite of what Mackenzie is now saying…
Tim Miller stated:
“I feel like time travel with multiple realities loses some stakes. If you can change time and it can be anything and it can be multiple or alternate timelines, I feel like you lose a little bit of the dramatic stakes. So in the Terminator universe, there is only one timeline. If you change something in the past, the time wave rolls forward and changes the future.
Tim Miller told SDCC
Which contradicts what James Cameron stated to THR…
“This is a continuation of the story from Terminator 1 and Terminator 2. And we’re pretending the other films were a bad dream. Or an alternate timeline, which is permissible in our multi-verse.”
James Cameron told THR
Unless, we were to see Mackenzie’s Grace Harper in the same T:DF timeline (future war) leading up to sending her back, which would be almost a direct rip from the Kyle Reese loop, hmm.. though maybe that was the intention for movie two all along anyway… ?
That would make sense, right?
Then Tim could have kept his one timeline, but, what about the timeline where Uncle Bob, Kyle Reese, General John Connor and The T-1000 etc. come from… ? Those timelines did interact with 1984 and 1995, ohhh, yeah, they don’t exist anymore according to Tim Miller, and Kyle Reese is dead – yeah, remember that one? Kyle just magically ceased to exist altogether according to Tim’s logic.
The next time you watch Terminator 2 be on the lookout for new timeline-altering effects that may induce Back to the Future moments, such as: John Connor disappearing from his photo before the T-1000’s eyes… Sarah Connor disappearing from Pescadero interview tapes / phonebooks and more.
Dark Fate has many continuity faults, and Tim Miller obviously made a huge contribution to the mess. We know James Cameron described the experience of working with Tim Miller as frustrating…
James Cameron on disagreements with Miller while editing the movie:
“I would say many. And the blood is still being scrubbed off the walls from those creative battles. This is a film that was forged in fire. So yeah, but that’s the creative process, right?”
James Cameron told Cinemablend
Many fans would prefer a future war Terminator 7 movie that reconnects us back with John Connor and his war with SkyNet; committing Terminator: Dark Fate to the scrap heap rather than investing in more movies with new characters which usurp the beloved mythos and established legacy characters.
The wider audience and fan opinion has spoken, with many agreeing that, to them, Terminator: Dark Fate isn’t canon. But more than that; the box office proved it isn’t viable to continue in that direction – even Mackenzie Davis thought the concept of continuing was “insane“.
The studios can send out as many financial analysts as they want, to sniff out the wallets of Terminator fans who are willing to part with money for a seventh time around (after what many consider to be four failures – regardless of if you have a fondness for those 4 movies), but if the studios intend on erecting another tentpole movie off the backs of Terminator Fans… it may not be appreciated – and if presented with a product anything like the last four… many won’t be back the next time.
So, if we take onboard what Mackenzie said about another timeline, then it is permissible that Terminator: Dark Fate is a sequel to T2 and Genisys at the same time. That means multiple John’s. T-800’s, Sarah Connor’s and more.
Everything can now be canon, unless you prefer, as an individual, to say otherwise.
Oh, and if you’re wondering why our featured image on this post features Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, well, if you read the article and understand the concept of a multiverse… then you’ll understand the image represents the combining of the timelines of TSCC, Genisys (Pops) and Dark Fate, and it isn’t some signal that we hate Linda Hamilton… The image is obviously a joke but if you want that movie to happen, then you’re obviously a big fan of Genisys, TSCC and Dark Fate.
Also worth noting is the first outlet to report on this Mackenzie Davis Terminator 7 information; Comicbook.com who are owned by ViacomCBS, and ViacomCBS are also the OWNERS of Paramount Pictures (Terminator Genisys, Terminator: Dark Fate). The host of the podcast is Josh Horowitz via MTV, MTV is also owned by ViacomCBS… so this podcast belongs to Paramount Pictures. Josh also did a segment with Robert Patrick for Terminator 2: Judgment Day “On Location” (with the Paramount Network) to help get fans nostalgic about Terminator, while Terminator: Dark Fate was being released in other countries…
Whatever you want the next movie to be, let us know.
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