Almost three decades after playing the role of Sarah Connor for the last time, Linda Hamilton returned to her most iconic role to date. Terminator: Dark Fate will see her portraying this character for the first time in years, but how did she prepare for this demanding part?
Hamilton detailed her journey in an interview with In Style and explained everything it took to step back into Sarah Connor’s shoes. She was in her physical prime when the first Terminator movie was filmed, but returning to this franchise in her sixties was much more demanding.
Personal trainer Mackie Shilstone, whose clients include superstar athletes Serena Williams and Peyton Manning, helped the veteran actress prepare for the part. Her fitness routine included a mix of weight-lifting, Pilates and cross-training, and she didn’t eat any carbs for a year and a half.
Filming Terminator: Dark Fate was extremely demanding, but an equally rewarding experience for Linda Hamilton, who came to terms with the physical limitations of her age along the way.
“It’s disappointing that you can work as hard and not look the same. But then you just think, ‘I cannot be what I was.’ It took me a while to just go, ‘Let’s go with what we’ve got and make it as fantastic as possible.’ I’d never felt like a badass until I made this film,” said the actress.
