Linda Hamilton may be done with ‘Terminator’ films, but she’s still plenty busy

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — It’s fair to call Linda Hamilton the queen of sci-fi. How it happened, she believes, was a “lucky accident.”

“I actually really love reading sci-fi too. I really do enjoy the characters that they have brought to me to get to play,” Hamilton recently told CNN. “In terms of just kind of more fun and wacky. I just think that there’s so much imagination there that it appeals to me more than just your typical professional woman character, you know?”

She’s currently appearing in the third season of the SyFy network’s “Resident Alien,” a series about an alien who crash lands on Earth fully intent to destroy humanity, but instead takes on a human identity and becomes integrated into the community in which he lives.

Hamilton portrays General Eleanor McCallister, a high-ranking military officer who has daddy issues and a long brewing interest in extraterrestrials.

While it’s a comedy, the general acts as the straight guy in most of her scenes. Because of that, Hamilton mused, “I walk out of that soundstage feeling like I failed.”

“I’m literally like, I just don’t have it in me. I’m not funny because I’m the straight man,” she said. “But I will try to sneak in a little funniness and they’ll go, ‘You know how you just did that? Don’t do that.’”

Playing strong female characters is nothing new for Hamilton.

She is beloved for originating the role of Sarah Connor in the classic 1984 film “The Terminator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and appeared in two of the franchise sequels.

So there were more than a few hearts broken recently when Hamilton shared that she has no interest in appearing in the recently announced “Terminator 7,” which is reportedly being penned by the original director and her ex-husband, James Cameron.

The actress said she has no issues with people still identifying her with that character.

“People come up to me and go ‘You were so great and you saved the world,” Hamilton said. “I mean, what is wrong with that for your whole life? Why would I complain about that?”

Her latest project is also one that is a cult classic.

Hamilton is currently filming the fifth and final season of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things.”

While she’s not spilling any tea about the eagerly awaited season, she said she is having “the best time” working on the show.

“It was almost a year ago that they brought it to me, and then we were getting ready to go when the strike happened, and that was another delay,” she said. “So it was a year of just sort of like, oh, I am going to do ‘Stranger Things.’ So I’m so happy we’ve finally began and I can see the shape of my life and character for the next few months.”

While much is made about ageism and women in Hollywood, Hamilton, 67, said her career has become more interesting over time.

“I have been now in my life getting better roles than I got as a younger actress for sure, just real good character stuff. I just did a film for USC,” she said. “I don’t know how far it will get in terms of public consumption, but there was absolutely zero Linda Hamilton in this character. And that was so much fun.”

Hamilton said she is having fun stretching new muscles these days.

“It’s a great thing as an actor to get to play outside of yourself and that’s definitely coming to me lately,” she said.

Season 3 of “Resident Alien” is currently airing on SyFy.

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