Terminator: Dark Fate

In 1998, three years after the destruction of , and have retreated to , , where they are ambushed by a —one of several sent back through time by prior to its erasure—which kills John despite Sarah’s efforts to protect him. In 2020, an advanced Terminator known as the is sent from the future to to assassinate Dani Ramos. At the same time, a enhanced soldier named Grace is sent from the year 2042 to protect her. The Rev-9, disguised as Dani’s father, infiltrates the auto assembly plant where Dani and her brother Diego work but is intercepted by Grace, who escapes with the siblings. Using its ability to separate into a solid and a , the Rev-9 pursues them, killing Diego and cornering Grace and Dani. They are rescued by Sarah Connor, who temporarily disables both components of the Rev-9 using military-grade weaponry. Grace and Dani steal Sarah’s vehicle to flee but are forced to stop when Grace suffers a metabolic crash due to her augmentations. After acquiring medicine from a pharmacy, they are confronted by Sarah, who leads them to a motel. There, Sarah explains that since John’s death she has received encrypted messages pinpointing the arrivals of Terminators—each signed “For John”—allowing her to intercept and destroy them. Grace reveals that in her timeline, Skynet and John never existed. Instead, an AI called Legion, developed for , triggered a after being deemed a threat to humanity. Legion created a machine army to exterminate the survivors, who formed a resistance. In this future, Dani is a central figure in humanity’s struggle against Legion. Tracing the source of Sarah’s messages to , the group evades both the Rev-9 and U.S. authorities while crossing the . There, they encounter the same T-800 that killed John. Having completed its mission and with Skynet erased from existence, the Terminator—now and calling itself “Carl”—integrated into human society, forming a family and . Seeking redemption, Carl began sending Sarah the coordinates of events to give her purpose. He agrees to help them defeat the Rev-9, and Sarah reluctantly joins forces with him for Dani’s sake. Anticipating the Rev-9’s pursuit, Carl urges his adopted family to flee. The group obtains a military-grade (EMP) device with the help of Sarah’s contact, Major Dean. However, the Rev-9 arrives and destroys the EMPs during a shootout, forcing the group to escape by air. During the flight, Grace reveals that Dani is the future leader of the resistance. The Rev-9 boards their aircraft and subdues Carl, forcing Grace, Sarah, and Dani to parachute out near a hydroelectric dam. The two Terminators follow them. At the dam, the group makes a final stand. Carl and Grace manage to drag the Rev-9 into a , causing a massive explosion that disables all three. The Rev-9’s damaged endoskeleton incapacitates Sarah, leaving Dani to face it alone. A mortally wounded Grace urges Dani to use her power core as a weapon. Though initially overpowered, Dani is aided by Carl, who reactivates and restrains the Rev-9 long enough for Dani to destroy it with Grace’s power source. Carl and the Rev-9 are destroyed in the ensuing blast. In the aftermath, Dani and Sarah watch a young Grace playing at a park with her family. Determined to change the future, they drive off to prepare for the coming war. By December 2013, was planning for to be the start of a . The were scheduled for release on May 19, 2017 and June 29, 2018. For the second film in the planned trilogy, actor was to reprise his role as the . was produced by Skydance founder and was released in 2015, but its disappointing box-office performance stalled the development of the planned trilogy. Dana Goldberg, the chief creative officer for Skydance, said in October 2015 that she “wouldn’t say [the franchise is] on hold, so much as re-adjusting”. According to Goldberg, despite disappointing domestic performance, the company was happy with its worldwide numbers and still intended to make new films. Production of a sequel would begin no earlier than 2016 because the company planned market research to determine its direction after . The sequels were ultimately canceled. and Ellison talked about Miller eventually directing a new film after completing (2018). When Miller left the project in October 2016, he took on the film as his next project instead. At the request of Miller, franchise creator subsequently joined the project. Cameron had directed and co-written the first two films, and Miller, through his company , had previously worked with Cameron. Ellison felt that could have been better, so he recruited Cameron as a fellow producer in hopes of creating a better film. Cameron was intrigued by Ellison’s proposal to make a sequel to (1991), ignoring the events of (2003), (2009), and . Cameron said “we’re pretending the other films were a bad dream. Or an , which is permissible in our .” Other filmmakers on the project had suggested making the film without Schwarzenegger, but Cameron disliked the idea as he and Schwarzenegger were friends. Cameron agreed to produce the film on the condition that Schwarzenegger be involved. As producer, Cameron was involved in and script work, and also provided his input on the project. Miller felt that audiences had “lost hope” in the franchise following the last three films. He believed that Cameron’s involvement would serve as a “seal of quality” which would convince fans that the franchise “was going to be handled at least in a way that the original filmmaker would want”. Cameron was involved with the film as of January 2017 and Ellison was searching for a writer among science fiction authors with the intention that Miller direct. Later in the month, Ellison said there would be an announcement regarding the future of the franchise before the end of the year, adding that it was going to be in a direction that would provide “the continuation of what the fans really wanted since “. In July 2017, Cameron said that he was working with Ellison to set up a trilogy of films and supervise them. The intention was for Schwarzenegger to be involved, but also to introduce new characters and “pass the baton”. On September 12, 2017, confirmed that would direct the new film which was initially scheduled for a theatrical release on July 26, 2019. The film’s budget was approximately $185–$196 million, split roughly three ways between Skydance, and , all of which were production companies for the film. Chinese company joined the project as a co-financier in April 2018, ultimately financing ten percent of the budget. Tencent was a production company on the project and also handled the film’s distribution, marketing and merchandising in China. and ‘s were also involved in the film’s production. Before screenwriters were hired, Miller had asked that a group of novelists be consulted on how to reinvent the franchise. Among the novelists were , , , and . Abercrombie suggested the idea of a female character who is half human and half machine, forming the origins of the character Grace. A human-machine character, Marcus Wright, was previously featured in , portrayed by . The film’s story was conceived by Miller, Cameron and Ellison and a team of writers was hired to write the script. They included , and his writing partner Justin Rhodes and , creator of the television series . Cameron and the writers watched the sequels that came after his initial films. They determined that the storylines of the later films were too complex when it came to time travel. Weeks were spent working on the story which was eventually envisioned as a new film trilogy. Goyer wrote a draft for the first film in the trilogy that would ultimately become . Goyer moved on to other projects. By November 2017, was brought in to polish the script. Ray rewrote much of Goyer’s draft. Miller wrote the film’s action scenes, while Ray handled the characters. Cameron had a list of action scenes, for no particular film, that he had wanted to shoot over the years. He gave this list to Miller, so he could work them into . The list formed the basis for scenes involving a dam and a Humvee underwater. As the start of filming approached, Cameron felt that the script needed improvement and made the changes himself. The film’s story credits were given to James Cameron, Charles Eglee, Josh Friedman, David Goyer and Justin Rhodes; screenplay by David Goyer, Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray. Cameron said that he and Miller ultimately had many disagreements about the film, but he described it as being part of the creative process. Among their disagreements was whether the human resistance would be winning or losing to Legion in the future. Miller wanted the humans to be losing, while Cameron felt differently. Miller said, “Legion is so powerful, the only way to beat it is going back in time and strangle it in the crib. Jim says, ‘What’s dramatic about the humans losing?’ And I say, ‘Well, What’s dramatic about the humans winning and they just need to keep on winning?’ I like a last stand. It’s not his thing.” Miller also had disagreements with Ellison. Miller said that the destruction of Cyberdyne at the end of is an event which would change the future “but no one knew how. And I don’t think the movies that came after it really explored that in a clean way like I believe we are, with true consequences, and it makes perfect sense for Sarah to be the one to face those consequences since they were her choices to begin with.” One consequence would be the death of John Connor, who was initially meant to become the future leader of the human resistance against machines. The decision to kill the John Connor character came from Cameron, who wanted to surprise audiences who had become invested in the character’s mythology: “It’s like, ‘Let’s just get that right off the table. Let’s just pull the carpet out from underneath all of our assumptions of what a Terminator movie is going to be about. Let’s just put a bullet in his head at a pizzeria in the first 45 seconds.'” Cameron said that John’s death serves as “a springboard for the story to show Sarah’s ultimate trauma from which she only begins to recover right at the end of the new film. She’s driven by hatred, by revenge. (…) Her badassery comes from a place of deep hurt and deep pain.” Miller said that he and the other filmmakers did not find the decision to kill John controversial. Miller felt that Sarah Connor was best portrayed as an unhappy character and he said that John’s death provided a reason for her to be that way. Miller said of Sarah Connor: “Grief has made her want to be an emotionless killing machine. And at the end of the movie, she’s allowing herself to care again, she comes back to humanity. Her shriveled heart has blossomed again. That was the journey”. However, Miller did not want Sarah Connor to be an unpleasant and “unwatchable” character and said, “I think Sarah is tough, but it’s not uncomfortable to watch.” Cameron believed that removing John Connor would prevent the film from feeling like a retread of previous films. Discarding John Connor allowed for new characters to be worked into the story. Miller said, “You can’t have John be a 36-year-old accountant somewhere. And really, when you think about it, he could be sort of a pathetic figure as a man who had missed his moment in history and was relegated to this banal, ordinary existence”. Describing the opening scene, Miller said, “You want to slap the audience in the face and say, ‘Wake up. This is going to be different.’ I feel like that accomplished that. I hate the violence of it. I hate the idea of a kid being shot, but the dramatic fuel that it gives the story is kind of undeniable.” In the early stages of development, there was consideration given to the idea that Dani Ramos could be portrayed as John’s daughter, or that she could have some other connection to the Connors. However, Miller disliked the idea that she would be related to them. There were never plans to feature John Connor in any other scenes besides the opening. was somewhat shocked by the decision to kill John Connor, which she believed would upset a lot of fans, but she also said she wanted the film series and its characters to evolve. She was pleased with the film’s characters, feeling that earlier sequels to lacked characters the audience would care about. Miller was dissatisfied with the final film’s idea that Dani would send Grace to the past, saying, “We set up this whole [story] where Grace is kind of Dani’s surrogate child and a mother sending her child to die for her is just…yeah, I had a different scene in mind.” Additionally, several endings were considered, including one where Sarah and Dani would bury Grace and another where Grace’s body would be burned and sent down a river. Eventually, Miller suggested the idea that Dani would go to see the younger Grace. The ending playground scene was a late addition to the film. Cameron devised the idea of a T-800 Terminator that is “just out there in this kind of limbo” for more than 20 years after carrying out an order, becoming more human “in the sense that he’s evaluating the moral consequences of things that he did, that he was ordered to do back in his early days, and really kind of developing a consciousness and a conscience”. Cameron considered this iteration of the character to be more interesting than those featured in his first two films, saying, “We’ve seen the Terminator that was programmed to be bad; you’ve seen the one that was programmed to be good, to be a protector. But in both cases, neither one of them have free will.” Schwarzenegger enjoys interior decorating, so Cameron suggested that his T-800 character in the film have a drapery business. Miller arranged the script’s structure to have Schwarzenegger’s character appear later in the story, to allow time for the three female lead characters to develop. By April 2017, Schwarzenegger had joined the project to reprise his role. That September, it was announced Hamilton would reprise her role as Sarah Connor, whom she previously portrayed in the first two films. Hamilton had also briefly reprised the role for the 1996 theme park attraction , and provided her voice in an uncredited role for . Because previous films did not do well with audiences, Miller felt it was necessary to have Hamilton reprise the role. Cameron, Ellison and Miller only wanted to bring back the Sarah Connor character if Hamilton would reprise the role. The film’s storyline was devised first so the trio would have an idea to to Hamilton. Cameron said that he sent Hamilton a “long rambling email with a lot of reasons why she should do it and a lot of reasons why she shouldn’t”. Cameron’s main reason why Hamilton should return was that people liked her in the role. There was never a version of the film that excluded Hamilton and Miller said there was no backup plan in the event that she declined the role. After approximately six weeks, Hamilton chose to sign on to the film, which did not yet have a completed script for her to read; that was still being refined. Initially, Hamilton was unsure if she wanted to reprise the role. She had been semi-retired from acting, and said, “I didn’t want it to look like a shameless money grab. I am living this quiet, lovely life that doesn’t involve being a celebrity, and you really have to think, do I really want to trade that in again for another ?” Because so much time had passed since her last appearance as Sarah Connor, Hamilton had assumed that she would never reprise the role and she was surprised by the offer to do so. Of her decision to return Hamilton said, “I was very pleased that all of the years had passed, because I could fill the years up with so much backstory and inner life that could power the character.” Hamilton spent more than a year working with a fitness trainer to get into physical shape for the role. Hamilton said she put 10 times more effort into her physique than she did for . This included a regimen of supplements and , as well as training with . She also took weapons training. Commenting on Hamilton’s role, Cameron said he liked the idea of an action film starring a 62-year-old actress. Hamilton chose to dye her hair gray for the film, as she wanted viewers to see her character as an old woman. Hamilton disliked the physical training, and she had suggested that her character be portrayed as a fat person so she would not have to train for the film, although the idea was rejected. In March 2018, it was announced that had been cast in the film. Miller said of Davis, “I didn’t just want a woman who could physically fit the role but emotionally as well. Mackenzie really wanted to do it; she came after the role. She worked harder than anybody.” After Davis was cast, she undertook physical training for the film’s fight scenes. Schwarzenegger and also underwent physical training for the film. Luna was first considered for a role in December 2017, when a four-month casting process began for him. The production team wanted to cast an 18-to-20-year-old woman as the new centerpiece of the story. Hamilton rehearsed lines with several actresses who were auditioning for the role of Dani and she immediately felt that was the right choice. When Reyes sent in an audition tape, all she knew about the project was that it was a “big American movie”. She soon had a meeting with Miller through , before coming to Los Angeles to audition with Hamilton. For her next audition, Reyes was flown to to audition with Davis, who was there shooting another film. The casting process lasted a month and a half for Reyes before she was finally cast. Afterwards, she went through physical training to prepare for the role. Because the film is partially set in Mexico City, the cast includes several Latino actors, including Reyes, Luna and , who were cast as primary characters in April 2018. Reyes said, “This movie is a reflection of now. We are just changing these stereotypes and the ideas and the cliches of what a Latino should be.” Cameron watched all the audition tapes and gave his approval to the casting choices. By June 2018, Jude Collie had been cast as the double for a young John Connor, with Brett Azar reprising his role from as the body double for a younger T-800. Cameron announced in July 2019 that would reprise his role as John Connor from . Furlong later maintained that his role in the film was small, and Miller regretted that Cameron had made such an announcement. Furlong’s likeness was used to recreate his younger face digitally using CGI. He also gave a performance through footage to him that was added into the film. For his performance, Furlong simultaneously watched footage of Collie during the film’s opening scene and had to match his own performance with Collie’s precisely. Furlong is credited as “John Connor reference”. Furlong was disappointed by his small role, which was limited to one day of work. Production was intended to start initially in March 2018, but was delayed due to casting. It was then expected to start during May and end during November with filming taking place in , the , and . In April 2018, the film’s release date was delayed until November 2019. Filming began in Spain on June 4, 2018, under the working title . Filming subsequently moved to Hungary and the United States, before concluding in November 2018. The film, like Cameron’s initial films, is , whereas the previous two films were rated PG-13. Miller said the film is rated R because “the fans kind of demanded it, in a way”, saying that “the DNA of Terminator” is an R-rated movie and that “to not do it R feels disingenuous to the source material”. Initially, certain scenes were filmed in two ways—with and without R-rated violence and language. This gave the filmmakers an alternative in the event that the film’s intended R rating should be reconsidered. The filmmakers eventually abandoned this method after deciding definitively on an R-rated film. During filming, Cameron made further changes to the script to perfect the characters. In some cases, his script changes were submitted to Miller only a day prior to filming the scene. Hamilton rejected certain actions and lines of dialogue that she felt were uncharacteristic for Sarah Connor. Schwarzenegger also added and changed some of his own lines during filming. Cameron did not visit the set, as he was busy filming his . He also did not want to interfere with Miller’s directorial work. The first day of filming took place in , , Spain. It involved the pivotal opening scene featuring the characters of the T-800, Sarah Connor and John Connor. The three characters were portrayed in the scene by body doubles and digital was later applied to give them a youthful appearance. The doubles wore special hoods that tracked their head movements, allowing their facial features to be replaced later by new motion capture facial footage recorded by Schwarzenegger, Hamilton and Furlong. During filming of the opening scene, Hamilton expressed dissatisfaction with the body double’s portrayal, feeling that it did not accurately reflect the character. Hamilton advised the body double on how to portray the character for a more fierce response to the T-800 character. Hamilton was disappointed that she had no onscreen part in the scene and later said, “It wasn’t me and it really hurt. I cried my eyes out when I got home.” The film used more for Sarah Connor than . Hamilton said she “really got a little crazy trying to micromanage” them to ensure that they moved the way her character should. For this reason, Hamilton performed some of her own stunts. Scenes that were set in Mexico were shot entirely in Spain, where filming lasted approximately 30 days. Spain was chosen for budgetary reasons and because of safety concerns over violence in Mexico. Filming locations included the Madrid neighborhoods of and , which stood in as Mexican towns. For these scenes, the film crew repainted cars to resemble taxis and also left old vehicles on the streets to suggest they were abandoned. An artist was also hired to paint graffiti art to further give the location a Mexican appearance. Boneta, who was born and raised in Mexico City, was asked to meet with the film’s art department leaders to ensure that the filming locations in Spain had an authentic Mexican look. While filming in Spain, Luna coached several actors on how to speak Spanish with a Mexican accent. In July 2018, filming took place for two weeks in , including the San Juan industrial estate. Filming also took place in , and at the . A combination of practical effects and CGI were used for a highway chase sequence in which the Rev-9 pursues Grace, Dani and Diego. Sarah Connor’s present-day introduction also takes place on the highway and Hamilton rehearsed the scene extensively before it was filmed. Approximately seven freeway locations in Spain had been considered before settling on the final choice, consisting of new roads leading to the then-unopened . The highway chase sequence required a crew of approximately 300 people, with many different film departments involved. A custom-built pod car, similar to a , was built to haul a pickup truck during filming. This allowed Davis, Reyes and Boneta to act out their scenes in the truck while the driving was handled by a professional driver in the pod car. Cameras were attached to the pickup truck to film the actors while the vehicle was in motion. One shot filmed at the San Juan industrial estate depicts the Rev-9 driving its plow truck through a wall, which was built specifically for the shot. The highway chase was initially planned to be twice as long. The Rev-9 was to have killed a cop and stolen a motorcycle to continue its pursuit and the motorcycle would be shot at and destroyed. The Rev-9 would subsequently leap onto a truck and then onto Dani’s vehicle. The extended sequence was previsualized, but Miller chose not to film it as the sequence was considered “crazy” enough already. Previously, Miller had wanted to film the motorcycle sequence for his 2016 film . Filming moved to Hungary on July 19, 2018. Filming locations there included Origo Film Studios in . Part of the film’s plane sequence involves the characters floating in the in zero gravity. Miller spoke with pilots to do research into gravity and the plane’s action scenes, which were difficult to choreograph because of the constant gravity changes depicted. Hamilton said the film’s script was the first one that she did not fully understand, because of the large amount of action. Animated aided the cast during such scenes. In Budapest, special effects supervisor created the film’s largest set piece: the fuselage of the C-5. The set was constructed on an 85-ton , the largest ever built. The set was capable of rotating 360 degrees and could tilt backwards and forwards at 10 degrees. It was powered by five 200-liter-per-minute , as well as more than a mile and a half of . A pit had to be dug in the concrete floor of the to accommodate the large set, which took approximately five months to design and another five months to build. The set was 60 feet long, half the length of a real C-5 fuselage and it contained a at one end for post-production effects to be added in later. The rotating set helped to achieve the sense of gravity needed for the scene and the set also allowed the camera crew members to strap themselves inside. The plane set was padded for actors who shot scenes inside it. Foam replicas of military vehicles were also situated inside the plane with the actors. Davis said shooting the film was “the hardest thing” she had ever done because of the physical requirements. One scene depicts a Humvee falling out of the C-5 plane, with Grace having to open the vehicle’s parachutes to land it safely. Davis was suspended with wires to perform the scene, which was filmed in Budapest. An underwater action scene took weeks to shoot and involved immersing Hamilton and Reyes in a water tank. The scene depicts Sarah and Dani inside the Humvee after it falls over the dam and into water. The scene was shot in a tank surrounded by a large bluescreen stage which depicted the exterior environment. For the scene, each day of shooting took place over 12-hour periods from the evening to the morning. Another scene depicts the T-800 and Rev-9 fighting underwater. The film includes a scene where the characters are held in a detention center on the . Miller said it was not meant as a or on immigrant issues related to the border, stating that the scene was “just a natural evolution of the story”. He noted: “I tried to walk a line there because it’s a terrible situation, but I didn’t want to vilify border guards. They’re people doing a job. The system is the problem. And even the choice to do it really wasn’t a statement. It really was a function of us putting the story’s beginning in central Mexico and then traveling.” Miller was emotional while filming the scene because of its depiction of immigrants being held in a detention center. Luna said, “We don’t make any overt political stances; we just show you what’s happening in the world and you receive it however as you may.” Scenes at the detention center were filmed in July 2018, at an old factory in the Hungarian city of . In late July 2018, Schwarzenegger began filming scenes in Budapest. In September 2018, filming took place at a factory in . Filming in the United States was scheduled to begin in mid-October. Carl’s cabin was built from scratch. While the filmmakers liked the surrounding scenery, they rejected a previous house that was built on the property for another production, so it was torn down to construct the new home. Schwarzenegger completed filming on October 28, 2018. Filming wrapped in early November 2018. Cameron, who also works as a film editor, was heavily involved in the editing of . He saw a of the film in early 2019 and provided Miller with notes on how to improve it feeling it needed to be perfected. He said the film “transformed quite a bit” from the rough cut. The initial cut of the film, known as an , was two hours and 50 minutes. Miller’s was closer to the film’s final runtime. Three or four minutes were removed from the director’s cut, including a few scenes. Some scenes were also trimmed, including the underwater fight and those on board the C-5 airplane. In his director’s cut, Miller said he removed “a lot of stuff” that Cameron thought was important. Miller also said that he and Cameron had many disagreements about lines of dialogue which Miller thought were “poetic and beautiful”, while Cameron thought they were unimportant. Because of the lack of full control throughout the project, Miller said he would likely not work with Cameron again, although the two maintained a good relationship. The final cut of the film runs for 128 minutes. At one point late in production, Miller considered placing the opening scene later in the film, when Sarah is in the motel room explaining John’s death to Grace and Dani. However, Miller said this structure “really changed a whole lot of stuff in a negative way” and he ultimately decided to keep it as an opening scene, in order to start the film off by shocking the audience. The opening scene was originally longer as it featured dialogue between Sarah and John. This was cut from the final film as Cameron and Miller believed that the visual effects did not hold up well when the characters spoke. Another deleted scene went into more detail on how Carl knew about other Terminators arriving from the future. The scene, written by Cameron, explained that Carl created a cell phone app to track the arrivals, which disrupt cell phone signals. The scene was removed because it was considered too humorous compared to the rest of the sequence, which has a serious tone as it involves Sarah meeting her son’s killer. A shot was deleted from Carl’s final fight with the Rev-9 that depicted it ripping flesh off of Carl’s arm. Miller said, “We had to walk the line between gross and horrific” and he described the arm skin as “hanging like a big piece of jerky”, saying, “That’s where we drew the line.” The film contains 2,600 visual effects shots and was edited using and . The visual effects were provided by (ILM) and , supervised by Alex Wang, David Seager, Arek Komorowski. was the production supervisor with help from , , , Unit Image, Rebellion VFX, Mammal Studios, Universal Production Partners (UPP), , Les Androïds Associés, and . ILM was initially going to be the sole company working on visual effects, but others were brought on due to the amount of work that had to be done on the film. The Third Floor handled some of the previsualization. Method Studios created visual effects for scenes involving the C-5 airplane and a helicopter crash. The company also created an of a military base and several shots set during the border crossing. Blur Studio handled scenes that depict Grace’s future as a soldier. ILM handled the de-aging in the opening scene. ILM’s visual effects supervisor, , said a lot of work went into the scene to ensure that the characters’ faces looked realistic and had the same likenesses as . After seeing the digital head shots, Schwarzenegger provided guidance to the ILM team, which made subtle adjustments to perfect his character’s facial movements. The ILM team also created the liquid metal effects of the Rev-9. The team studied which depicted the growth of algae and fungus and this inspired the liquid metal movements. According to Cameron in February 2019, the film’s was . This was confirmed as the film’s official title the following month. composed the film’s score, reuniting with director Tim Miller after their collaboration in . Holkenborg recreated ‘s original ” ” theme while also introducing Latino elements to reflect the ethnicity of Dani Ramos. He used approximately 15 instruments while composing the score and also used the sound of an and the banging of a washing machine, describing his score as being “way more aggressive” than Fiedel’s. The soundtrack was released digitally on November 1, 2019, by . A first-look promotional image showing Hamilton, Davis and Reyes was released in August 2018. It was the subject of comments which criticized the absence of the Terminator and John Connor and received backlash for its focus on the female cast members. A teaser trailer for the film was released on May 23, 2019, that features a cover version of ‘s ” ” performed by . The film’s theatrical and international trailers were released on August 29, 2019. The trailers’ release date marked the anniversary of the original Judgment Day date given in the second film. Initially, the marketing campaign highlighted