Terminator Death?

Producers of Fox's SF series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles surprised audiences at last month's Comic-Con International with the announcement that a major character will die in the upcoming second season, which premieres Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox. So creator Josh Friedman and star Lena Headey chose their words carefully when speaking about the revelation in a conference call with reporters on Aug. 28. One thing Friedman promised is that the death will not be a cheap trick. "You'll know it when you see it," Friedman, who is also an executive producer, said. "You won't have to ask about it. When that character dies, we'll all know."

With all this death talk, you'd have to think the title character is safe. But Headey warned to expect the unexpected this year. "I don't think you can ever feel safe, to quote Sarah," Headey said with a laugh. Season two will showcase the softer side of Sarah as John Connor (Thomas Dekker) starts to step up to his future calling as human leader of the resistance against the machines. "Sarah has taken a kind of back seat in terms of being proactive," Headey said of her character this season. "My feeling is that there's a slow madness happening in her, because she feels that everyone's gone out of reach for her. We're going to see a lot more of John taking control and taking steps towards becoming the man he has to be."

Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson makes her acting debut this season as Catherine Weaver, the chief executive of Zeriacorp, a company trying to develop computer technology from "Turk," the chess-playing machine introduced in the first season. Although some have already referred to this new character as evil, Friedman said that she's more complicated and mysterious. "It's like Jessica Rabbit," Friedman offered for comparison. "[Her plan to grow the Turk is] not personal." At the end of the first season, FBI agent James Ellison (Richard T. Jones) got first-hand confirmation of a Terminator's existence.

Friedman also talked about where that knowledge will take the character: "Now that he knows for sure that they exist, he's sort of determined to figure out why he's a part of this arrangement. I think that Cromartie's [Garret Dillahunt] particular suggestions to him and the fact that he's been left alive indicates that he may have a larger part in the plan." When asked about potential cameos from past Terminator movies such as Michael Biehn, for example, Friedman said that he thinks those kind of stunt cameos would be too distracting.

The only cameo he admitted to is Bijou Phillips (Hostel: Part II, Almost Famous). "I can't say [who the others are]," Friedman said. "Most of the guest stars die when they come on."

Source: Scifi.com