Linda Hamilton is best remembered as Sarah Connor in the Terminator franchise, but she hasn’t been the only one who has played this iconic role, and she wasn’t the only actress considered for it either. James Cameron’s directorial debut arrived in 1982 with Piranha II: The Spawning, but his big break happened in 1984 with The Terminator, written by him and Gale Anne Hurd. The Terminator introduced the audience to the title character (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a cyborg assassin sent from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), whose son will one day save mankind from extinction by a hostile artificial intelligence.
The Terminator was a critical and commercial success, launching Cameron’s career as a filmmaker and solidifying Schwarzenegger’s status as an action star, and made way for a franchise consisting of six movies, one TV series, and other media. Although the Terminator/T-800 is the main character of the series and the one present in all movies, the franchise’s hero, Sarah Connor, has also become one of the most popular and beloved characters in pop culture, and her story has been explored in different ways – for example, Terminator 2: Judgment Day saw her go from final girl to action hero, while the TV show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles focused on her adventures alongside her son (played by Thomas Dekker) and a re-programmed Terminator named Cameron (Summer Glau).
Of course, when thinking about Sarah Connor, Linda Hamilton is the face that comes to mind, but it almost wasn’t like that, and before she was cast, there were other actresses considered for the role, as also happened when casting the younger Sarah Connors in Terminator Genisys (Sarah Clarke) and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Lena Heady). Here are the actresses who almost played every version of Sarah Connor in the Terminator franchise.
Before Linda Hamilton was cast as Sarah Connor in The Terminator, James Cameron considered Jennifer Jason Leigh for the role, who at the time was known for playing Stacy Hamilton in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Other actresses who were considered for the role were Michelle Pfeiffer, Diane Lane, and Carrie Fisher, with Debra Winger auditioning and reportedly landing the role, but she changed her mind and left the project. Geena Davis, Sharon Stone, Kelly McGillis, and Lea Thompson auditioned for it, but it ultimately went to Linda Hamilton, who had just finished filming the horror movie Children of the Corn. According to Lisa Langlois, she was offered the role of Sarah Connor and got to read the script with Michael Biehn, and was later told that Linda Hamilton had sprained her ankle badly, so they offered her the part. Sadly, Langlois had to turn it down as she was already shooting The Slugger’s Wife. In the end, Linda Hamilton got to play Sarah Connor in The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Terminator: Dark Fate.
In 2015, Warner Bros. tried to reboot the Terminator franchise with Terminator Genisys, which featured a younger version of Sarah Connor played by Emilia Clarke. Before Clarke was cast, Emily Blunt was considered for the role, and Margot Robbie reportedly got as far as to screen-test for it. The choice for Sarah Connor was narrowed to Emilia Clarke, Tatiana Maslany, and Brie Larson, but the producers went with Clarke, who was already a big name in the industry thanks to her role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones.
Between Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and Terminator Genisys, the franchise branched out to television with the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Set after the events of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the series followed Sarah (now played by Lena Headey) and John Connor as they tried to live under the radar after the destruction of Cyberdyne in Terminator 2. Before Headey got the role, Dina Meyer is said to have been in consideration to play this version of Sarah Connor, but it’s unknown if she got to audition for it. Following Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Headey got the role of Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones.
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