Linda Hamilton's Dark Winds role had a "very specific" unexpected connection to her late mother.

The 69-year-old actress appeared in the season four premiere of the AMC series as Barbara Sena, who shared not only her mother's name, but also a journey with dementia, and the star has admitted the real life bond didn't stop there.

She told PEOPLE magazine: "My mother had dementia for 25 years.

"I swear to you, I went in for the fitting and the whole thing takes place in the '70s, and they pulled out some shoes for my character that were my mother's shoes.

"I mean, they were the exact colour of taupe that my mother would wear to extend the leg. And it was a very specific colour from the '70s, '80s.

"It just felt really sweet to be doing this to kind of honour her."

The Terminator legend explained that she wants to "show the poignance of someone" living with the disease and how "people around them are missing them while they're right there".

Linda also Mopened up about how she explored different ways people experience the memory loss brought on by the illness.

She explained: "I have spent a lot of time wondering, 'When does a person know? Do you know?'

"I never really witnessed that part of dementia where someone really knows that they're losing it. So, it is a fine balance [to portray].

"I have some friends now that are going through that and have watched them over the years kind of fail mentally. So, there's every good reason to play this part."

Meanwhile, Linda recently admitted she was ready to retire before the Duffer Brothers approached her team to express an interest in casting her as Dr. Kay in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things.

She told Entertainment Weekly: "That doesn't happen often enough. They came to my agent.

"I was thinking very much of retirement around that time 'cause my hip. I was limping. Unless you want a character that's limping... I just said, 'I can't do my best work or be sure that I'm gonna be fit for work every day. I gotta stop.'

"And cut to -- Stranger Things calls him three months later. There's been no further discussion about retirement. We've left it on the table.

"They said, 'Is Linda Hamilton available from June to June?' And he went, 'Yes!' -- without even asking, because that's how excited we were and he was."