Never thought I'd come back as Sarah Connor

Actress Linda Hamilton has returned as sci-fi icon Sarah Connor after 28 years in 'Terminator: Dark Fate' even though she never thought she'd be coming back as the popular character.

'Terminator: Dark Fate' reunites Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron with original franchise stars Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger for the first time in 28 years in a new

action-adventure that picks up where "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" left off.

Now 62, Hamilton may have declined to appear in any of the sequels until this one. "I felt that the character arc was very complete, back then," she said.

"I thought, 'I'm going to retire a champion'."

But the 'Terminator' franchise has nonetheless continued to cast a beautiful shadow.

"It took me weeks and weeks and weeks to decide that I was in," Hamilton said.

"You know, people have asked me that question (of whether she would come back) for decades now, but I never saw this one coming. I never thought I'd be coming back as Sarah Connor. I'd left Los Angeles and didn't know if I wanted to invite all of that back into my world.

"I was living happily ever after, in a way that just felt so authentic. And there is a part of me that feels that what took me out of Los Angeles was a rejection of Hollywood and all the grandiosity and the inflated egos, inflated b***s and inflated lips. The inflated self-worth. I wasn't sure if I was willing to trade that for another 15 minutes of fame."

Then she read the script. "And there was new stuff to play, you know, and that excited me," said Hamilton.

"(Sarah) is still very much the same passionate, crazy wild thing, but the situation has changed. The time that has passed means the potential to explore so much more. And that is what always intrigues me…"