When Arnold Schwarzenegger first delivered the line “I’ll be back” in the original Terminator movie he probably had no idea how iconic the line was going to become.
As fans, we often love to see call back moments in sequels, however, Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller was pretty hesitant to use the line when making the most recent addition in the Terminator franchise.
Speaking with CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast, Miller revealed he was nervous to add the line in because as a fan, he didn’t want to be accused of adding the iconic line for “fan service” and had to no plans to add it into the film at all.
He explained, “I feel like because I love it and I can sit there and imagine someone on the internet or in movie theatre watching this movie. And decide what is fan service, and what is honouring the franchise. I’m done with ‘Hasta la vista, baby.’ Honestly, I was kind of done with ‘I’ll be back.’”
The “I’ll be back” line was so iconic for Schwarzenegger, he’d even deliver it in non-Terminator films.
The director added that people on set were telling him he needed the line in the film, but he decided he’d do it in a different way so as not to draw attention to it.
“I’ll be honest. I had to be forced to use ‘I’ll be back.’ Then I said, if we’re gonna do it, we’re gonna do it differently. We’re gonna give it to Linda [Hamilton], and we’re gonna throw it away,” he said.
The line was revealed in the trailers and it really doesn’t draw much attention to it. Sarah Connor says it in a matter of fact way at the end of the trailer and moves on.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Hamilton revealed just how tough it was to actually say the line, “You can’t say it without sounding like him. It’s at the end of a very intense action scene and it’s weapons and it’s triple-digit heat, and you’re just giving it everything and then every time I would finish with that line, I would look at Tim and he would go, ‘Sounds like Arnold. Let’s do it again.’”
Here’s every other moment the line was delivered in a Terminator movie:
