Terminator 2: Judgment Day left off and was intended to allow the old guard characters to off the film series to a new generation of heroes, but things didn't quite go according to plan.
Cameron blamed casting for the film's failure. He said, "the movie could have survived having Linda in it, I think it could have survived having Arnold in it, but when you put Linda and Arnold in it and then, you know...all of a sudden it wasn’t your Terminator movie, it wasn’t even your dad’s Terminator movie, it was your granddad’s Terminator movie" (via Deadline). Blaming the shortcomings on casting doesn't acknowledge the liberties he took with the rest of Terminator: Dark Fate's story.
Cameron's Criticism Forgets Other Terminator: Dark Fate Problems
Many of the movie's faults can be found in the screenplay and the way Cameron tried to reinvent the Terminator franchise. Cameron's decision to pair Schwarzenegger and Hamilton together might have seemed superfluous and unnecessary, but that creative decision is only part of Terminator: Dark Fate's problems, many of which center around an unfocused story and the death of another central character in the franchise, John Connor. Connor, for whom the fate of humanity has depended on since the first Terminator movie, is killed in the first ten minutes.
This not only does a disservice to the character, but it also negates the contribution of Edward Furlong, someone fans were as excited to see make a return to the franchise as Hamilton. In many ways, Furlong, as well as Schwarzenegger and Hamilton, grounded the eye-popping extravaganza around them. The three fan favorites centered the movie's chaotic plot and gave it the lived-in, practical aesthetic its predecessors had. Terminator: Dark Fate follows Cameron's prerogative of pushing the boundaries of CGI effects, but if Judgment Day it's because that was a pioneering film, whereas Dark Fate simply feels like an imitation of other modern blockbusters.
Terminator: Dark Fate Needed More Focus On Younger Characters
To say that Terminator: Dark Fate's problems arose solely from casting choices ignores the disservice done to the young actors in the movie hoping to carry its momentum forward. Had they been allowed to star in a gritty action-horror movie like the original Terminator, they might not have become swallowed up by the surrounding spectacle. They would have become memorable characters in their own right, ready to tackle new narratives.
While casting Schwarzenegger or Hamilton might have stolen the spotlight from the younger actors, that's only part of the problems in Terminator: Dark Fate. The story might have worked fine with only one of them, as Cameron claims, but if the movie still cavalierly killed off John Connor, as well as relied too much on CGI, and stole the plot from Judgment Day, casting them wouldn't have made a difference. In the end, it's better that fans had two legends to make up for it.
