By Christina Radish

 

From the creators of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the Fox television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is set after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Once again stalked by Skynet’s agents from the future, Sarah (Lena Headey) and John Connor (Thomas Dekker) realize their nightmare isn’t over, and they decide to stop running and focus on preventing the birth of Skynet. Fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that still more enemies from the future, and the present, could attack at any moment. With the aid of Cameron Phillips (Summer Glau), a beautiful girl with a mysterious past that is also linked to the future, they begin a quest to stop the United States military from creating the program that will bring humanity to an end.

 

The show’s star, Lena Headey, and Consulting Producer James Middleton spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about the successful series.

 

Lena Headey> I always felt I wanted to do it, but I don’t know why I felt that. I didn’t really understand all it involved. Obviously, it was a glamorous dream and I was a teenager. I ended up auditioning for a film when I was 17, just because I was in the right place, and I got that job. It’s weird. The moment you get frustrated and you think you’re not going to play this game anymore, you read something that just drags you back in, and you want to be a part of something and explore characters. It’s sort of like free counseling.

 

Lena> Yes, pretty much. I absolutely loved it.  I thought it was brilliant. And, the fact that it’s a television show, the possibilities for it are endless, in the development of all of the characters.  It’s really exciting.

 

Lena> Even when it’s not physical, Sarah has so much going on. There’s so much adrenaline in her body, constantly. I love the physicality of the show and I think it only serves to feed the emotional intensity of it all. I like it. I get quite high.

 

Lena> Just a lot of hand injuries because there seems to be a curse on the show that every breakable surface never breaks. You’re told by experts, “Just really hit it, and it’ll break on the first punch,” and actually, it’s just agony.

 

Lena> I take from the movies what is undeniable, which is a strength and an instinct, and just an absolute sense of wrong and right that’s ingrained in her. On top of that, you throw in the unusual circumstance she’s in, which is a very potent mix of emotion and depth. Also, I get to be more emotional. You see more of a relationship with John and other human beings, so it’s different, in that way. We just come in a different physical wrapping. 

Lena> Yes, I’m a little tired of that. It’s a long time apart. We’re bringing everyone up to speed, and it’s a new generation. Linda Hamilton will always be the original Sarah Connor, and it’s a very strong mark that she left, but hopefully, people will embrace what I bring to Sarah and see it with fresh eyes. 

James Middleton> It takes place a couple of years after the events of Terminator 2. Sarah Connor has been on the lam with John for two years, when the crisis of our pilot strikes. 

James> Sarah is always concerned about her mortality, from the standpoint that she worries that if she dies her work won’t be done, so that’s always going to inform her character.  In terms of our show, the premise of our pilot establishes that we really move away from Terminator 3. We create a whole new timeline that is a different future with a new fate for Sarah.  So, the series is really going to be informed more by Terminator 2: Judgment Day than by Terminator 3.

 

James> No, because I was so interested in bringing Sarah Connor back. That was really the priority for me, along with making her character relevant to a new audience in 2008. So, while I enjoyed working on Terminator 3, and it was a worldwide commercial success, and a lot of fun, I completely embraced the idea that through something established in the mythology of time travel, we could create an entirely new storyline and timeline for Sarah Connor herself.          

James> Yes. And, I do have reverence for the franchise and I know what the expectations are, but at the same time, it’s fun. It’s a great opportunity to work on something that has a basis of such a rich mythology to expand on. I’ve looked at the process as just a great time. I have to say I just loved the process of seeing different people and finally finding Lena. It’s been a great ride, and I think we’ve all been really energized by the process.  

James> It’s interesting because the themes of Terminator are just as relevant today as they were when T2 came out. Technology, in terms of robotics, is increasing at just an astonishing rate.  People are working on artificial intelligence in many different quarters. At the same time, people, in general, feel powerless over this technology and don’t understand it, and there’s a natural paranoia that comes with that. That makes our show even more relevant than when T2 was released. The other thing is the theme from the movies that a small person, like Sarah Connor, a former waitress, can have an amazing impact on the future. Everybody wants to believe that there’s a calling for them, that they can have a positive impact and that their existence means something. I think that is also very relevant to new audiences. In terms of the show itself, what that provides us is the ability to deal more with Sarah Connor’s character than you could in a movie. It also allows us to have that character more pro-active instead of just being chased.  Sarah is on the hunt and investigating this mysterious and very tense world. 

James> I think our audience has always identified with this character that has an enormous task thrust upon her because she is very much like us. She starts out as a waitress. Her beginnings are not auspicious, but because of the calling she’s given, she rises to the occasion and transforms into an amazing heroine. We would all like to believe that, if such a calling were thrust upon us, we could be strong enough and rise to the occasion. With that, I’ve always loved Sarah Connor’s intensity. The fact that, while fighting very viciously against her foes, you absolutely see the stakes, and her fear and anxiety. That’s very interesting. It’s a fantastic character, created by Jim Cameron, and I wanted to really explore her. I knew that Sarah would not appear in any future movies, and I really desperately wanted to bring that character back. The original drafts of T3 included Sarah, and that was not able to happen. But, when I look back on it, I actually feel that that was a blessing because that allowed us to get to this point where we have a series where we can have Lena Headey play Sarah. Lena has absolutely just knocked it out of the park, in terms of taking this character and making it her own. 

James> Jim Cameron is not involved, and has not been involved in the franchise since about 1998, when the franchise was sold to C2 Pictures. But, he’s obviously an inspiration to us, every day. We acknowledge that what we’re working on is created by a master filmmaker.   

James> As the series progresses, there are going to be many references revealed, and echoes to the first two movies, and real fans will be able to pick up on those references. We’re very influenced by certain themes, lines and characters from the first two movies, and those things will eventually appear in our series, or be referenced. At the same time, we don’t want to be slavish to the first two movies, and we can’t really. We have to expand the universe. So, we’re going to create surprises that have nothing to really do with the first two movies.             

James> There’s a balance that we have to strike. Each episode that we have has a closed ending, but there are naturally serialized elements to it, as the show progresses. Having seen all the episodes, and having worked on them in post-production, I don’t think that there’s anybody that would come into a particular episode and not be able to figure out what’s going on. 

James> No, we actually found very clear-headed people at the network and at the studio. We all were horrified by Virginia Tech, and we did make adjustments in the pilot to reflect the sensitivities people had about it. Since then, there have been other school shootings, which we are sensitive too as well. But, one must remember that the premise of our show is of terminators and others from the future coming to kill a child, and that may happen in public places. One thing that we do in the show, which may not happen in other action shows, is that our show really values human life. That is something that Sarah, as a character, is very conscious of, as the series progresses.                 

James> The interaction between Sarah and Cameron, the protector machine, is very complicated because Sarah has a well-earned fear of machines, yet she must keep this machine close to her in order to protect her own son. So, there’s a wariness that Sarah has for Cameron. But, as the series goes on, it’s impossible for either Sarah or John not to become somewhat emotionally attached to Cameron as a being. It’s very interesting to watch Sarah deal with what is really her worst nightmare, and having to embrace it everyday                                                   

James> I can’t tell you anything in detail because I want to leave the surprises for the actual airing of our episodes, but what I would tell you is that this conspiracy to create Skynet is vast, and the elements that produce it really are elements of human nature. So, Sarah will interact with many different characters from all sorts of different sectors, as well as fighting machines. 

James> No, I view the writer’s strike as a very disappointing thing. I believe that we have a viable first season. We have nine total shows. But, Lena and I both very much miss Josh Friedman, the man who developed the show for television, and whom I’ve now come to think of as a bit of a genius and a poet. I miss working with him and I hope to work with him again. If there were not a writer’s strike, I think our show would be just as successful.

 

James> We’ll see. I like Heroes and I don’t think about the prospect of competing against that show without trepidation. But, I think that our show is very strong and different from Heroes, in many ways. 

James> I just don’t know. I hope we could. I have a feeling that the nine shows that we have may be our first season because it takes us about five weeks to get a show up and running. We would have to get the writers back into the writer room. They know what they have to do, but it still takes time. Our show is very involved, in terms of CGI, practical special effects, costumes and sets, so the preparation time is critical. I don’t think that there is a scenario where we could have those last four episodes of our order, ready to run continuously with the season.  

Lena> It’s an ongoing evolution. I think her relationship with John is reaching new depths. She’s learning to be a mother. She’s learning what it is to live like this. It’s a complete realization of what’s going on.

 

James> I could, but I just don’t want to. I want it to be a surprise for everybody that’s going to watch the show.

 

James> Terminator 4 is slated to begin production in late April. McG is directing and Christian Bale is starring, so that’s going forward. The idea is that it would be released in the late summer of 2009. I’m also working on an animation project, called Termination, which will utilize animated to do individual segments inspired by the Terminator franchise. It will be like Animatrix, except that it will have a much more international flare because this idea of Judgment Day is not something that would just affect Los Angeles, it would affect the world. So, we’ll have European animators, as well as Japanese animated masters. We’re just in early development of that, and we hope to have that ready for release in 2009. The animation process is extremely time-consuming.

 

James> They will naturally cross-promote each other. But, in terms of narrative timelines, what we’ve done with the television show is create an entirely new timeline. We will be following Sarah’s journey through a different timeline. It’s a completely new expression of the franchise, by Josh Friedman. 

 

James> I don’t know if it will be confusing. Having now seen all the episodes of the show, I think that it is a completely involving narrative on its own, and people will appreciate both what’s happening in The Sarah Connor Chronicles and what happens in Terminator 3.

 

James> We’re just going to leave that to the future. We don’t have any immediate plans for that, but you never know.

 

Lena> I guess mine would involve world politics, but I won’t go into that. I’d like a time machine just so you could erase wrinkles, but not your wisdom.

James> I would go back to a certain political election in the year 2000 and make some changes there.