She’s back! Linda Hamilton stopped starring in big-budget movies not long after 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day made her an action hero. Eventually, she moved to New Orleans to create a new life that revolves around her dogs, neighbors and two grown children. That’s all about to change. Next month, she’ll return in Terminator: Dark Fate, a sequel that will resurrect her breakout character, Sarah Connor. To become Sarah, who’s been trying to save mankind since 1984’s The Terminator, Linda underwent months of Green Beret training.

“I had a true village of experts trying to get the most out of this body,” Linda admits, who notes that getting into fighting shape in her 60s was a lot harder than in her 30s. “This was 10 times the effort,” she says, “[but] it’s incredibly liberating to play someone of this age.”

Linda Hamilton
Moviestore/Shutterstock

Linda has come full circle in another way, too. The new movie allowed her see her ex-husband James Cameron, who directed the first two Terminator movies and is a producer on the new film, differently. “When I broke up with Jim, I was completely devastated for years,” Linda says, adding that it was a relief to finally be free of those feelings. “I would never, ever put that much energy again into something that is not working.”

After the Terminator hoopla dies down, Linda plans to return to her quiet life. “I love my alone time,” she says. “I’ve been celibate for at least 15 years. It just doesn’t matter — I have a very romantic relationship with my world every day and the people who are in it.”

Linda Hamilton
StudioCanal/Shutterstock

Terminator: Dark Fate will be released in theaters November 1, 2019, and also star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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