Summer Glau

Terminator Scoop: The Big Death, the Friday Move, and More

The following story contains spoiler information about last night’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Before Season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles premiered, executive producer Josh Friedman teased a big death — saying when it hit your screen, you’d certainly know it.

This reporter’s money was on Agent Ellison, or perhaps Dean Winters’ EMT. For some reason, never did it enter my mind that Team Connor would actually get the upper hand on Cromartie and thus terminate the terminator who has taunted them for so long.

"Cromartie kind of forced their hand," series scribe Dan Thomsen explains. "He was a good terminator and got to his prey" — and thus had to be dealt with. So, is Shirley Manson’s Weaver now the only big baddie? Or might another tin can be on its way to track the Connors? "How and when Skynet gets its information for sending assets into our time is very interesting to me," says Thomsen. With Cromartie gone, "We’ll see what the next move is."

Thomsen, along with Friedman and (for the blink of an eye) Cromartie’s portrayer, Garret Dillahunt, conversed with press and fans in a Fox-sponsored Mooby chat room on Monday night, after the big death had been delivered to East Coast viewers. While there was a certain irony in a futuristic show brokering an interaction via a venue that (as one person put it) "looked like a circa-1995 AOL chat room," the patient onlooker was able to glean a few scooplets from the show runner and his scribe.

On Terminator’s Midseason Move to Fridays, Leading into Dollhouse "I’m happy to be with Joss Whedon," said Friedman, "and now we’ll see how fervent our fans are. Which is to say: Will you stay home?"

On Sarah Connor Possibly Visiting the Dollhouse "The crossover I’d like... is for Joss to come over and write my show for a week, so I can go to Hawaii," Friedman joked.

On Friedman’s Plan to Fix Heroes — Since Everybody Has One, After All "How would I improve Heroes? Bring back Bryan Fuller [who’s currently exec-producing Pushing Daisies]."

On Sage Sarah Connor Not Expounding As Much "I love the monologues, but we curtailed them mainly because they were affecting the way we edited the opening and closing of the episodes," explained Friedman. "Funny, when we did the voiceovers, everyone complained!"

On Newcomer Jesse "Stephanie [Jacobson] will be around for a while," said Friedman. "She’s got some work to do."

On John’s Budding Romance with a High-School Girl "I think John’s an idiot to be involved with Riley (played by Leven Rambin)," Friedman admitted, "but he’s got his reasons."

On the Belief that a Robot (Cameron) Shouldn’t Hook Up with a Human (John) "But it’s Summer Glau!" Thomsen argued.

The one question that both men repeatedly and effectively dodged throughout the fast-moving exchange: "What happened in the basement?" It’s a reference to a lingering plot thread from Season 1. Theories range from Cameron used the cellar to interrogate prisoners (while listening to Chopin!) to a larger story in which Brian Austin Green’s Derek might ultimately betray the Connors. All Friedman and Thomsen would say is this: "We talk a lot about the basement in the writers room."