Garret Dillahunt Talks with CanMag

Garret Dillahunt talks with CanMag about being the new Terminator.

Garrett Dillahunt may have faced the toughest scrutiny coming into Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. He’s following the tradition of Arnold Schwarzenegger, liquid metal and tough female terminators. “I was surprised they asked me to be a regular on the show,” he said. “I wouldn’t think a terminator’s life would be that long.”

Garret Dillahunt on The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Dillahunt returns to the show’s second season. Expect to see the same sort of physicality as he had the first year. “I guess I haven’t thought about it so much. I enjoy so much about playing it, in fact more than I thought I would. I thought it would be very finite, the things I could do. But then you realize how, not that anyone loves him, but machines you love, you know how you can’t part with them? You know that thing that’s weird, ‘No, I can’t sell my Nova. All the stuff I’ve been through with this car.’ I kind of feel like that. You find these little individual ticks even in the biggest piece of machinery there is, so I’m enjoying that part of finding the way he has no hesitation or he has social unskill. He says hello a little too hard maybe. He’d be that guy, smiles a little too big.”

This terminator may have more speaking lines this season too. “It’s funny how much, as often as I’ve seen the terminator movies, you forget things. I remembered that one section just recently where I think Reese was yelling at Linda Hamilton about, ‘They have hair, they sweat, bad breath, the whole thing.’ We’re like, ‘Oh yeah, they sweat and can have bad breath. Maybe we don’t need to be so worried about my armpits or whatever.’ I’d forgotten how in 2, Arnold kind of got all philosophical. He would talk about histories of things and weapons and you’re like, ‘Oh yeah, we can do that in here.’ Long answer to tell you, yes, I will be talking more.”

This terminator has a plan too. There’s a reason he let agent Ellis (Richard T. Jones) live. “No one has ever said it but I think the fans have pretty much nailed it. He’s a manipulative guy, this terminator. He has no hatred for Ellison and he might come in handy when he has to find the Connors, like ‘Oh, this one. You’re tracking them too. Well, you better live.’ It’s kind of cool that he’s not just a meathead. It’s not just all physical. He’s that unafraid of his adversary. ‘Oh, I’ll kill you later. Right now you’re gonna lead me to them.’”

Still, sometimes it’s fun just to see stuntmen fly across the room when you throw them. “It is cool. It’s cool to just win a fight. I gotta tell you, I’ve been beat up so much in my career. It’s so nice to actually win, break a neck. I’m anxious to punch something actually. I haven’t punched anything as a terminator yet. It’s all lifting people by their necks.”

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles returns September 8th on FOX.