Terminator: Dark Fate Director & Linda Hamilton Criticize Arnold’s Thumbs Up in T2

Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller and star Linda Hamilton aren’t fans of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s thumbs up in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. A direct sequel to the aforementioned film, Terminator: Dark Fate dismisses the post-T2  films as alternate timeline stories and removes them from canon. Hamilton and Schwarzenegger return as a battle-hardened Sarah Connor and the formidable T-800, respectively. Despite some critics calling it derivative, the film has already been lauded as one of the best entries in the franchise (behind Terminator and T2, obviously). And judging from its latest trailer, it looks like that’s the case.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is widely regarded as the franchise’s finest entry, a riveting mix of high-stakes action, powerfully-conveyed emotion, and groundbreaking special effects that thrilled fans of its predecessor. With this new installment, Miller, director of the first Deadpool film and one of Hollywood’s most sought-after filmmakers, strives to erase the messiness of everything that came after T2 by crafting a story that honors its best predecessors and finds its identity while doing it.

The “thumbs up” scene, now famous (and, for some people, loved) for its inherent cheesiness and tacked-on feel, involved Schwarzenegger’s T-800 sacrificing himself to defeat the villainous T-1000 and allowing Sarah and John Connor to preserve the human race. Neither Hamilton nor Miller enjoyed the scene, and they certainly didn’t mince words when discussing it.  Speaking on Cinema Blend’s Reel Blend podcast, Miller said:

I can only say that that was not my favorite part of the movie. And the fact that it is yours is a symptom of your age when you saw it. Because when I saw T2, I was 27, right? But one of the first things I asked Linda is, ‘How do you feel about the thumbs up moment?’ And she’s like, “No.” And I went, “Okay, we’re going to be fine’…Well, Jim [Cameron] loves that scene. Many people love that scene. For me, it’s just, it’s a little, it’s iconic, I know, but maybe a little too sentimental for me.”

It’s always fun to see stars such as Hamilton, who hasn’t appeared in a Terminator movie since she returned for Terminator: Salvation to record audio for director McG, voice their thoughts on movies they appeared in decades ago. During press tours and promotional circuits, it’s up to the actors, actresses, and filmmakers to make their film look as good as possible, so Hamilton obviously couldn’t discuss this back then. But now that the film is years behind us, it’s safe to say pretty much anything about its few faults (if one can even call a thumbs up a fault).

As his above comments indicate, Miller, a franchise newcomer, also feels that the choice to have a sinking thumbs-up function as a “goodbye” to the T-800 was a poor one. It’s honestly amusing to see these two big-name Hollywood figures rip into a scene that was probably intended to be impactful. It’ll be interesting to see if he can avoid moments like that in his foray into the franchise. On the surface though, criticizing such a popular and iconic moment might not be a wise way to earn favor with fans.