Comic Con: Someone On Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles Will Die

The producers of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles dropped a bomb on both cast and viewers during the show’s panel at San Diego Comic Con: this season a major character - someone present at today’s panel - will die. Panel cast members included Lena Heady (Sarah Connor), Thomas Dekker (John Connor), Summer Glau (Cameron), Brian Austin Green (Derek Reese), Richard T. Jones (James Ellison), Garret Dillahunt (Terminator Cromartie), and newcomer Shirley Manson.

Character deaths are always a sketchy thing, so obviously we pursued details while interviewing the cast and crew of the show. Showrunner Josh Friedman said he probably should have clued the cast in before the panel, but this was an idea that came up in the writers room toward the end of last week, so it’s definitely new news. Considering five episodes are already in the can, expect the death to come later in the current 13 run order.

So how did the cast react to the news of their potential character death (and future unemployment?) It ranged from skepticism (“I think they’re making it up and we’re all going to stay together,” said Summer Glau) to pessimism (“I just bought a house, so I don’t want to lose my job” said John Connor actor Thomas Dekker, “although if I die the rest of the world is pretty much fucked… but I don’t know.”).

My favorite reaction came from Brian Austin Green, who plays Derek Reese, brother of John Connor’s futuristic father. “I’ll miss Richard [Jones], but he’ll find more work” Green responded (Jones was sitting at the same table).

Producers James Middleton and John Wirth stated clearly that the show had to take this step to reinforce that, in a world with Terminators, death is a constant possibility. I couldn’t resist pointing out that, in a world with time travel, death could lose permanence, allowing a once-dead character to return. ”That’s a pretty good point,” Middleton and Worth slyly replied.

Look for more coverage of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles once we return from San Diego Comic Con.