Terminator 6 Reveals New Filming Start Date & Casting Details

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Director Tim Miller’s currently-untitled Terminator 6 has gotten a new filming start date, along with additional casting details for the movie’s young protagonist, Dani Ramos. The project is bringing back original Terminator stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger as, respectively, Sarah Connor and the human basis for the T-800 Terminator, drawing from an original story co-developed by Miller and the creator of the Terminator franchise, James Cameron.

While 2015’s Terminator: Genisys was a critical disappointment and underperformed at the domestic box office, its global haul of $350.8 million was enough to prevent the sci-fi property from being permanently retired. The sixth Terminator movie is the first installment since Terminator 2: Judgement Day to feature Cameron in a significant creative capacity, and will reboot the franchise again by ignoring the events of the three Terminator films after Judgement Day. Miller was previously set to begin filming Terminator 6 in March, but is now getting some additional time for pre-production and casting.

TerminatorFans has uncovered a casting notice for the Dani Ramos character, indicating that filming on Terminator 6 is now set to begin in May rather than next month. Omega Underground is separately confirming that Terminator 6′s production will now take place from May through to November of this year, with shooting locations that include the U.K., Spain, and Budapest. You can read the official character description for Dani from the casting notice, below:
 

Dani Ramos is a young woman in her early 20s from Mexico City. She was brought up in a working-class neighborhood, is independent and believes strongly in family. She’s more street-smart than book smart and is a woman who always manages to find a ray of light even in the darkest of circumstances.

This casting notice aligns with previously reported plot details for Terminator 6, suggesting that part of the story will take place in Mexico City and introduce a new villain (possibly a Terminator, played by a Latino actor) alongside Dani. It is believed that the intention here is to establish Dani as a protagonist who can carry the Terminator movie franchise from hereon out, while at the same time providing a satisfying final hurrah for both Hamilton and Schwarzenegger in their respective Terminator roles.

Making a woman of color the new star of the Terminator franchises sounds like a smart way to keep the series alive and relevant, at a time when more and more people are calling for not only female action stars, but non-white female leads in general. Whoever signs on to play Dani will need to be able to carry the property on their shoulders even without Hamilton and Schwarzenegger around to lighten the load, similar to what Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are doing with the current Star Wars trilogy. That’s all the more reason for Miller and his team to take their time with casting the role and not rush into production.