Terminator: Dark Fate doesn't arrive in theaters until November 1st, but we'll be getting another good look at director Tim Miller's sci-fi/action flick tomorrow thanks to the film's Comic-Con presentation. Be sure to keep an eye on Collider for any new footage that's released; Linda Hamilton, Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Diego Boneta, and Gabriel Luna star.

In a chat with EW, Miller broke down the arrival of the new Terminators, how they came about, and what the actors brought to their performances. So how does Miller explain the evolution of new Terminator models?

“There’s this new future because of what Sarah did at the end of Terminator 2, and it’s worse than ever, and that gives us the opportunity for these new characters."

terminator-dark-fate-mackenzie-davis-hi-res-1
Image via Skydance and Paramount

First up, there's Grace (Davis), a new kind of character that's actually a hybrid of human and machine; she teams up with full-blooded human Sarah Connor (Hamilton). Here's what Miller had to say about Grace:

"Mackenzie comes from something that Kyle Reese and the Resistance did ... I really liked her origin story. We did an early writer’s room and Joe Abercrombie came up with her as this super soldier from the future, but it comes at a cost to be one of these people. They’re the first people to die, they’re the shock troops who protect the rest of humanity, and her readiness to sacrifice is a really interesting way to come at a character.

 

“It would be easy to go, ‘Okay, you’re going to get some woman who’s an ex-MMA fighter or all about fitness and fighting, but I knew that she really had to connect. Because Sarah in a lot of ways is broken, and I knew that the audience would relate a lot to what had happened to humanity’s future, and as you’ll see in the film, the audience has to really feel for Grace by the end of it. And so I knew first and foremost, she had to be a great actor and Mackenzie is definitely that.”

terminator-6-dark-fate-tim-miller-linda-hamilton
Image via Skydance Productions and Paramount Pictures

Hamilton herself chimed in regarding Davis' performance and commented on the sort of passing of the Terminator torch:

“I was very happy to see Mackenzie take the mantle of turning her body into a fighting machine. Hopefully she will get all the attention that I got in 1991 for what she has done to make herself ready, to make herself a warrior.”

And then there's Luna's advanced Terminator, tasked with eliminating Dani (Reyes) for reasons that have yet to be revealed. Here's Miller on the new model:

"Gabriel comes from something that is not Skynet, but it’s like Skynet ... I tried to keep Gabriel a bit grounded while still interesting; I feel his new weapons and abilities are right for our times but not so ridiculous that it just turns into a visual effects superfest.

 

“This Terminator is a lot more human than a regular Terminator has been, which makes sense because computers are human, they understand us more every day."

As for the man who started it all, Miller would only tease a bit of what's to come with Schwarzenegger's return to form:

“I don’t think people will be ready for what Arnold has become either, because it’s very different.”

terminator-dark-fate-gabriel-luna
Image via Paramount Pictures

For more on Terminator: Dark Fate, be sure to check out these recent write-ups:

terminator-dark-fate-poster