Linda Hamilton has confessed she would be “quite happy to never return” to the role of Sarah Connor following the box office disappointment of 2019’s Terminator: Dark Fate.

The 63-year-old actress reprised her iconic role for Tim Miller’s film, which was a direct sequel to 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It took just $261million (£200 million) at the global box office against a reported $185 million (£142 million) budget, with losses estimated at between $130-110 million for studio partners Skydance Media, Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

It was the first time she’d played the human resistance leader since T2, but Hamilton says she doesn’t expect she’ll do it again.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter about the possibility of future Terminator films, and the financial losses involved in the last one, Hamilton said: “I would really appreciate maybe a smaller version where so many millions are not at stake. Today’s audience is just so unpredictable.

Read more: Terminator: Dark Fate reviews

“I can’t tell you how many laymen just go, ‘Well, people don’t go to the movies anymore’. It should definitely not be such a high-risk financial venture, but I would be quite happy to never return. So, no, I am not hopeful because I would really love to be done.”

View photos Tim Miller and Linda Hamilton in Terminator: Dark Fate (Paramount) More

Around the film’s release in October 2019, producer James Cameron – who created the franchise and directed the first two instalments – said Dark Fate was envisioned as the first part in a new trilogy of Terminator films.

“We broke story across three movies before we focused down onto the first of the proposed three, which is Dark Fate,” he told film blog Collider. “So there’s really a plot line that runs all the way out through a third film, if we get to that stage.”

Read more: Linda Hamilton wore padding to play Sarah Connor

However, judging by the film’s performance, it seems unlikely that stage will be reached at all. Before the film’s release, Cameron said Dark Fate had been “forged in fire” admitting that he’d clashed with director Tim Miller in post-production.

"The blood is still being scrubbed off the walls from those creative battles," Cameron told reporters in October.

"This is a film that was forged in fire. But that’s the creative process, right?"

Terminator: Dark Fate is available on digital download from 17 February, and on 4k Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and VOD from 2 March.