Emilia Clarke Reveals the Dark Truth Behind the ‘Terminator: Genisys’ Set: ‘No One Had a Good Time’

Emilia Clarke, known for her powerhouse role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, has reflected on her experience making Terminator Genisys, revealing that the behind-the-scenes struggles made it anything but a pleasant experience. Despite the high expectations surrounding the 2015 film, Clarke admitted that both she and director Alan Taylor were far from enjoying the process.

The Terminator franchise has long been one of Hollywood’s most ambitious attempts to reignite the magic of its 1984 original and its groundbreaking sequel, Judgement Day. Despite several attempts, the series has failed to recapture the spark that made it a sci-fi classic. The last few decades have seen a slew of reboots, each heralded as a fresh start but ultimately falling short of expectations. From Jonathan Mostow’s Rise of the Machines to McG’s Salvation, and then Alan Taylor’s Genisys, the franchise seemed to lose its way despite grand promises of redefining the future of Terminator.

Clarke stepped into the shoes of the legendary Sarah Connor, originally portrayed by Linda Hamilton, for Genisys. However, things quickly soured as the production was plagued by a series of issues, not just on screen but also behind the scenes. Clarke told Vanity Fair that Taylor, the director, was “eaten and chewed up” during the process, adding that he was “not the director I remembered.” She further admitted that “no one had a good time,” a statement that reflected the general sense of disarray that dominated the project.

The difficulties on set were not just limited to Clarke. Taylor himself spoke candidly about his own struggles during the making of Genisys and his subsequent work on Thor: The Dark World. The director revealed, “I had lost the will to make movies…I lost the will to live as a director. The process was not good for me.” He expressed that working on both films left him emotionally drained, prompting him to step back and rediscover his love for filmmaking.

Despite all the behind-the-scenes turmoil, Genisys was part of a broader attempt to reignite the Terminator franchise, with sequels originally scheduled for release in 2017 and 2018. But after Genisys underperformed at the box office, these plans were scrapped, and the franchise underwent yet another reboot with Terminator: Dark Fate. Directed by Tim Miller and featuring the return of James Cameron, Dark Fate was the third failed attempt to revive the series within a decade.

For Clarke, the commercial failure of Genisys turned out to be a bit of a blessing in disguise. She admitted that she was “relieved” when the movie didn’t perform well enough to warrant the sequels that had been planned. It was clear that the project had left a sour taste in the mouths of those involved, and the prospects of a new trilogy were now a distant dream.

While Clarke and Taylor may have struggled during the making of Genisys, the Terminator saga’s repeated failures only serve as a reminder of the difficulty in recapturing the magic of an iconic franchise. With the franchise repeatedly offering failed reboots, it may be time for Terminator to take a much-needed break. After all, if the cast and crew themselves are relieved by the end of these projects, it’s hard to imagine that the fans aren’t feeling the same way.