Linda Hamilton will finally return to the Terminator franchise later this year in Terminator: Dark Fate, and the fan favorite actress has revealed why now was the time to reprise the role of Sarah Connor. In the past, Hamilton turned down the chance to return to the movie series, considering her time as Sarah over with the conclusion of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Of course, Linda Hamilton is now clearly keen on reprising the role one more time, and in a new interview, the franchise star is opening up about her decision to finally go to war with the machines once again.

"There is a real gift in that so much time has passed, and that gives me so much more to explore with the character. Sarah Connor is the same person but I wanted to see how the difference in events have changed her and shaped her and send her forward. There was meat there. I didn't want to just recycle the same idea. It's a woman who has a different mission, a different story, so I wanted to see what we could do with that."

Also in the interview, Hamilton expands upon Sarah Connor's motivation this time around. While her primary objective in the past always seemed to be to keep her son John protected at all costs, Sarah now appears to be a lone wolf. According to Hamilton, Sarah's original mission has changed "due to circumstances" and the character now just has "a thirst for vengeance." This is vague enough to keep us from knowing exactly what Hamilton means, but if Sarah's alone and seeking revenge, that could spell doom for John Connor. Reportedly, John will be featured in the movie, though it doesn't appear he'll be playing a large part in the story this time.

Original director James Cameron is also returning to the franchise, this time as a producer and co-writer. Of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back once again as well, rounding out the reunion. In addition to Hamilton and Schwarzenegger, Dark Fate also stars Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, Gabriel Luna, and Diego Boneta. Deadpool director Tim Miller is helming the sequel. Set 27 years after the events of Terminator 2, a new fight for the future begins, bringing back several familiar faces along with new characters and machines.

These days, modern-set sequels to beloved classic movies seems to be a formula for success. It's easy to point to 2018's Halloween sequel from director David Gordon Green as an excellent example of this, as the movie brought Laurie Strode back into the series by tossing out every other sequel from the timeline. In doing so, the movie shattered records at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing slasher movie of all time. Clearly, the hope is to achieve similar results by taking the same approach with Sarah Connor, rewriting the character back into the continuity by ignoring every sequel past Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

There have been many Terminator movies, but for many fans, none of the other installments match the first two in quality. As Dark Fate is bringing back Hamilton and Cameron, hopefully the movie will do the original two justice. We can all find out when the movie premieres in theaters on Nov. 1, 2009. This information comes to us from Entertainment Weekly along with two new images featuring the female leads of the film.