Terminator: Dark Fate (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album to the 2019 film of the same name directed by Tim Miller, featuring musical score composed by Tom Holkenborg in his second collaboration with Miller after Deadpool. The film is the sixth installment in the Terminator franchise, and a follow-up to Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), ignoring the events that occurred in the other instalments, post James Cameron's return and creative control to the franchise after directing the first two instalments. The film stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Sarah Connor and the T-800 Terminator, respectively, reuniting the actors after 23 years.
Holkenborg wrote the film's music for nearly a year, to study on the first two films and also pay homage to Brad Fiedel's musical work in those films. He produced the album with varied musical styles, including a Latino-infused approach for the "Terminator" theme and working on a range of instruments: both acoustic and electronic, as well as sounds originated from real-life objects. He also added orchestral music in few emotional sequences, while limited its use throughout the film.
The album was released on November 1, 2019 under the Paramount Music label, to positive response praising Tom Holkenborg's composition, instrumentation and the homage to the iconic Terminator themes, created by Brad Fiedel. It was released in vinyl by Mondo on February 21, 2020.
Development
Holkenborg took nearly a year on writing the film's music. While composing for Dark Fate, he recreated Brad Fiedel's original "Terminator" theme but infused it with acoustic guitars and brass to reflect the ethnicity of Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). He added "the Terminator coming from the future, even though he's played by a Latino actor, he's still a robot, so I thought it was less appropriate for him. And the same with Sarah Connor and the Terminator character, Carl. In this case, that's the name of Arnold in this movie. He renames himself Carl. So I thought it was less important for them. I was able to really show, on the score, the roots of where this girl is coming from." That cue was written within eight weeks. He also recreated few themes from the second instalment, Judgment Day (1991), as Dark Fate was considered as the direct sequel to the film after James Cameron returned to creative control as an executive producer. To prepare for Dark Fate, Holkenborg studied about The Terminator and Judgment Day, before working on the score and felt that "he wanted the music of Dark Fate to be an homage to composer Brad Fiedel’s original work, but also the natural progression of this story over the last 25 years."
Holkenborg discussed with Miller on the film's music, with the latter received notes from Cameron via the production team and sent it back to him. He used minimal orchestra and added more sound design, blending to the percussion instruments to "make the music emotional". He also subtly used the orchestra with a minor reduction in the tempo, and also used Arnold's theme in adagio which was the "crowning moment". He mentioned on crafting the musical language of the Rev-9 Terminator, a challenge, as "the Rev-9 is a combination of a synthesizer bass line accompanied with brass and strings that bend up" and coupled it with the "very threatening sound design and that became the Rev-9’s fingerprint". He used a blaring prison alarm for the action sequence in an immigration detention center as he wanted it to be a part of the music, and when the cue was delivered, which was included in the film. He described his score as being "way more aggressive" than Fiedel's.
Holkenborg used approximately 15 instruments while composing, majorly includes cello, bass, electric guitar, bass guitar, Spanish guitars, percussion, drum kit, along with synthesisers. He also used the sound of an anvil, kitchen sink and washing machine, which were sampled and treated to "re-purpose sounds that we know in our daily lives into musical instruments", which he described it as "fun to create such music and stress-free".