Edward Furlong, John Connor in 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, is to return to the franchise for the first time in 28 years for the forthcoming release of Terminator: Dark Fate.
Series creator and Dark Fate producer James Cameron announced the news on Thursday at a panel at Comic-Con in San Diego, the comic-book convention that has become a significant stop in film-industry promotion. Cameron was speaking via video link before Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton arrived with the new film’s director, Deadpool’s Tim Miller.
Furlong, now 41, played the resistance leader in Terminator 2 aged 13 on the film’s release. After moderate success in a number of films, his career went into decline following substance abuse and arrests on suspicion of domestic violence.
Hamilton is also returning to the series for the first time since Terminator 2 as Connor’s mother Sarah – although her voice was used in 2009’s Terminator: Salvation. Cameron said he had written her a long email to persuade her to appear, saying: “I think the key point … was people love you in this character … I think the fans just want to know what’s she like now? What’s her life been like in the meantime?”
Other revelations from the event included Miller confirming that Dark Fate – which is being conceived as a direct sequel to Terminator 2, ignoring the three subsequent films – would be R-rated (ie, under-17s require an accompanying adult), and that Schwarzenegger’s T-800 Terminator character is living in human society under the name Carl.
