Will Fox Give Sarah Connor Chronicles Another Season?

I just finished watching the season finale of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and having now seen the entire first season (all 9 episodes) I can say without a doubt that SCC is one of the few new series from the 2007-2008 season that I’m at all interested in seeing brought back for a second season. As there hasn’t been any word on the fate of the series, I can’t help but be a little bit nervous that Fox might decide not to pick it up for another season.

As of today, (according to Syfyportal.com), Fox hasn’t announced whether or not they’re going to bring the show back next season. I really hope we hear some good news sometime soon but Judgment Day for this series might not come until May, when Fox announces their fall lineup.

In case you haven’t been watching the series, what the writers have basically done is eliminate the third movie from the equation and adapted a small screen version of the story that takes place in the years following the events that took place in the second film. Cameron (Summer Glau), a terminator arrives in the post-T2 world in the first episode and eventually meets up with Sarah Connor (Lena Heady) and her teenage son John (Thomas Dekker). On the run from a bad-terminator, they time-travel to the future, into our present day. After which, the three are on the run from bad terminators and the law as well as working to prolong Judgment Day yet again.

All of that is familiar territory for anyone who was a fan of the films. It’s always been about taking down Skynet, stopping Judgment Day and of course, battling scary almost-indestructible robots from the future. Sarah Connor Chronicles is taking the story a step further. What SCC has delivered in nine episodes, aside from fight sequences and the occasional explosion, is a story about people. None of the characters fit the clichés one might expect, given a series of this nature. Sarah’s not just the hardened warrior-woman. John’s not just the kid with the destiny. And Cameron isn’t just the emotionless robot.

It is because the characters are so interesting that I want to see this series stick around. I want more scenes of Cameron doing things like pretending to be a high school student, kicking terminator ass or doing something unexpected… like smiling. I love how she interacts with John, Sarah and the other people she comes in contact with. There’s just something about the way Glau portrays the character. From the way she speaks to the way her eyes follow everything, as though they really are sorting and processing every shred of information they can capture. I also want to see John and Sarah’s relationship continue to develop.

There are also some great side characters that have begun to play vital roles in the story. Take Derek Reese, Kyle’s brother (John’s uncle), for example. Played by Brian Austin Green, Reese’s character not only provides another link to the films (sort of), but, being from the future, he’s able to provide reminders here and there about how bad things will get if John and Sarah don’t do something to change the course of the future. Reese also serves as an alternate perspective when it comes to Cameron. While Sarah and John are willing to trust Cameron almost unconditionally with their lives, Reese comes from a world where it’s never ok to trust a machine. This causes some conflict between the main characters and forces us to question whether or not Reese’s paranoia when it comes to Cameron is justified.

As you may have noticed, I’m trying to avoid spoilers in my description of the show because I don’t want to ruin it for those of you who haven’t gotten around to watching the first season just yet (and for those who have, keep an eye out for Jane’s recap of the last two episodes!). If you haven’t seen SCC, it’s available at Fox’s website and for purchase and download on iTunes.

In the meantime, I’ll be holding out hope that Fox will see the potential in Sarah Connor Chronicles.