When it comes to movies about time travel, it’s best to roll with the punches and not think too hard about the Mobius-strip physics at play. When it comes to a sci-fi franchise centralized around time travel that repeatedly overwrites its own history, casting new actors in roles that have already been killed off and resurrected, all a viewer can do is shrug and pour themselves a drink. The often-confounding Terminator series of films never let the constraints of logic or consistency stop them from being rad, and it looks like James Cameron will keep up the “just don’t worry about it” doctrine for the upcoming sixth installment.

The Hollywood Reporter got the exclusive from a “private event” celebrating the Terminator films that Cameron had confirmed the return of original star Linda Hamilton to the franchise for the latest chapter. Producer Cameron and the film’s director Tim Miller (of Deadpool fame/notoriety) lured Hamilton back to her original role, too – this isn’t some legacy cameo geared to delight viewers in the know, she’s going to be kicking robot glute with the best of them. Cameron said a piece about the importance of female role models in action cinema as well:

As meaningful as she was to gender and action stars everywhere back then, it’s going to make a huge statement to have that seasoned warrior that she’s become return… There are 50-year-old, 60-year-old guys out there killing bad guys, but there isn’t an example of that for women.

Cameron went on to add that the series is still looking for an “18-something” woman to whom Hamilton can “pass the baton” as the new centerpiece of the story. Even if that kinda undercuts what he says – more Linda Hamilton! – that’s a good thing, right? If nothing else, I look forward to seeing what narrative pretzels the series will have to twist itself into just to explain her continued presence.

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