To be or not to be back: How The Terminator’s most iconic line was discovered on set

Everyone knows that James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s breakthrough hit, The Terminator, loves to be back. After five sequels, it’s safe to say that’s been back four too many times. But—and you can probably see where this is going—that iconic line almost didn’t happen. In Netflix’s new docu-series about the life and times of actor, governor, and real estate magnate Arnold Schwarzenegger, director James Cameron explains that “I’ll be back” was discovered on set in stereotypically James Cameron style—i.e. after the director screamed at his star.

“Sometime in the middle of the shoot, we’re doing this police station scene. The line is, ‘I’ll come back.’ It wasn’t meant to be like a big moment at all,” Cameron said, describing the “not big moment” in which Schwarzenegger says the line in a tight close-up before the cyborg drives a car into a police station. “It was literally meant to be, on its face, ‘No problem, I’ll come back.’ For some reason, Arnold didn’t say, ‘I’ll come back.’ I said, ‘Well, just say “I’ll be back.” Keep it simple.’”