Terminator: Dark Fate is the second big blockbuster of the year to revolve around time travel – the first being the mega-hit, Avengers: Endgame.
Dark Fate’s rules around the time travel gimmick appear to be quite different than that of the superhero franchise though, and these things can always get pretty complicated.
So the director of the latest entry in the cyborg-franchise is here to explain exactly how Sarah Conner got herself in such a twisted time mess.
Tim Miller told ComicBook.com all about the mechanics of the Terminator franchise time travel:
“It’s really what Jim [James Cameron] set up [in the first two Terminator films],
“There is only one timeline and if you change something in the past the time wave rolls forward, like the butterfly effect, it rolls forward and changes the future.”
“I also tend to think of it like a river caught in eddies. Jim calls it the ouroboros where you have this cycle of time. Kyle comes back; has sex with Sarah. She gives birth to John. John comes to the future; sends Kyle back, and time is caught in this eddy and only when Sarah destroys Cyberdyne does it continue to flow.
“We’re caught in another eddy here and whether or not they’re following the script, just trying to make sure the future happens the way it did happen or trying to disrupt the script… I can’t tell you”
So – pretty convoluted. Possibly too convoluted, because so far the latest entry in the franchise isn’t doing too well at the box office – only drawing $29 million at its opening weekend.
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures