After some underwhelming sequels, the thought of James Cameron returning to direct Terminator: Dark Fate and bringing back original Terminator actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton sounded like the ideal way to carry on the tale. Terminator: Dark Fate ended up with a devastating $123 million loss at the box office due to the fact that this was not the case. James Cameron acknowledged that he played a significant role in the film’s underwhelming box office performance when speaking with Deadline on a variety of themes. He clarified:
The film Terminator 2: Judgement Day is one of those that contradicts conventional wisdom. It raises the bar in every manner, produces one of the finest movie sequels ever, and obliterates all expectations with a hail of fire. They tried again, and again, and again, but it was impossible to properly follow up Cameron’s masterpiece as a result.
When working on Terminator: Dark Fate, James Cameron didn’t only plot the story for one movie as he did with the Avatar sequels; instead, he intended the movie to be the first of a new trilogy of Terminator movies. Naturally, a movie with a budget of close to $200 million that only earns $261 million at the box office will never be approved for a sequel, as was the case with Terminator: Dark Fate. There are currently no plans for any additional Terminator films being discussed, primarily because the franchise has reached the point where Arnold Schwarzenegger is the T-800, making it seem pointless to make another Terminator movie without him. He is also at an age where it is no longer logical to cast him as the T-800.
