Terminator Film Series Overview

Introduction

Terminator is an American media franchise created by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd.

The franchise encompasses a series of science fiction action films, comics, novels, and additional media, concerning battles between Skynet’s synthetic intelligent machine network and John Connor’s Resistance forces with the rest of the human race.

Skynet’s most famous products in its genocidal goals are the various terminator models, such as the T-800, who was portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger from the original Terminator film in 1984.

Outline

The central theme of the franchise is the battle for survival between the nearly-extinct human race and the world-spanning synthetic intelligence that is Skynet.

Skynet is replaced by an artificial intelligence known as Legion in the Terminator: Dark Fate film timeline.

The Terminator (1984)

The Terminator is a 1984 science fiction action film released by Orion Pictures, co-written and directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton and Michael Biehn.
It is the first work in the Terminator franchise.
In the film, machines take over the world in the near future, directed by the artificial intelligence Skynet.
With its sole mission to completely annihilate humanity, it develops android assassins called Terminators that outwardly appear human.
A man named John Connor starts the Tech-Com resistance to fight the machines, defeat Skynet and free humanity.
With a human victory imminent, the machines’ only choice is to send a Terminator back in time to kill John’s mother, Sarah Connor, and prevent the boy’s birth, thereby handicapping the resistance from ever being founded in the first place.
With the fate of humanity at stake, John sends soldier Kyle Reese back to protect Sarah Connor, and thus ensure his own existence.
It was released on 26 October 1984 and grossed $78.4 million worldwide.

Terminator 02: Judgement Day (1991)

Terminator 02: Judgement Day is the 1991 sequel to the original Terminator film and was released by TriStar Pictures.
It was co-written, directed, and produced by James Cameron and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick, and Joe Morton.
After machines fail to prevent John Connor from being born, they try again in 1995, this time attempting to terminate him as a child by using a more advanced Terminator, the T-1000.
As before, John sends back a protector for his younger self, a reprogrammed Terminator, who is a doppelgänger to the one from the previous film.
After years of preparing for the future war, Sarah decides to use the same tactics the machines used on her: preventing Skynet from being invented by destroying Cyberdyne Systems before they create it.
It was released on 03 July 1991, to critical acclaim and grossed $523.7 million worldwide.
It also won several Academy Awards, one most notably for its then-cutting-edge computer animation.
The film was remastered for 3D and re-released in August 2017.

Terminator 03: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Terminator 03: Rise of the Machines, released by Warner Bros. Pictures in North America and Columbia TriStar Film Distributors internationally, is the 2003 sequel to Terminator 02 and is written by John Brancato, Michael Ferris, directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken.
As a result of the destruction of Cyberdyne at the end of Terminator 02, the Skynet takeover has been postponed, not averted.
In an attempt to ensure a victory by the machines, a new Terminator, the T-X, is sent back to terminate the lives of as many of John Connor’s future lieutenants as is possible, including his future wife Kate Brewster, and also John himself.
Kate’s father, General Robert Brewster (David Andrews), who is supervising Skynet’s development, is also targeted for termination by the T-X.
After Connor’s future self is terminated by a doppelgänger of his previous protector, Kate reprogrammes it and sends it back to save them both from the T-X.
It was released on 02 July 2003 to generally favourable reviews and grossed $433.4 million worldwide.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Terminator Salvation is the fourth instalment of the Terminator film series, and was made by The Halcyon Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Columbia Pictures.
It was released on 21 May 2009 to mixed reviews and grossed $371.4 million.
It was written by John Brancato and Michael Ferris, directed by Joseph McGinty Nichol, and stars Christian Bale as John Connor and Sam Worthington (who was personally recommended by James Cameron) as Marcus Wright.
Following the events of Terminator 03: Rise of the Machines, after Skynet has destroyed much of humanity in a nuclear holocaust, John struggles to become the leader of humanity to which he is destined, while Marcus Wright finds his place in an unfamiliar post-apocalyptic world.
In this future, altered by the events of the second film, the T-800 Terminators (Roland Kickinger with CG-rendered facial likeness of Arnold Schwarzenegger) are coming online sooner than expected.
The film also stars Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Michael Ironside and Helena Bonham Carter.

Terminator Genisys (2015)

Terminator Genisys is the fifth instalment of the franchise, and, in addition, serves as a reboot that features the main characters from the first two films created by James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd and William Wisher, Jr., portrayed by a new cast with the exception of Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the eponymous character.
Additionally, J. K. Simmons joined the cast as Detective O’Brien, serving as an ally for the film’s protagonists.
The film was written by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, and directed by Alan Taylor.
It was made by Skydance Productions and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
The story takes place in an alternative reality resulting from a chain of events related to Skynet’s (Matt Smith’s) actions throughout a previous timeline.
Prior to this alteration, on the verge of winning the war against Skynet, John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends his trusted right-hand officer Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back through time to save his mother’s life and ensure his own existence.
However, Kyle arrives at an alternative timeline where Skynet had never launched its initial attack in 1997, and, therefore, Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) was brought up by a reprogrammed Terminator (Schwarzenegger), sent by an unknown party to be her guardian ever since childhood.
Now Sarah, Kyle and the Guardian need to escape the T-800 Model 101 (Brett Azar with CG-rendered likeness of Schwarzenegger from the first film), the T-1000 (Lee Byung-hun) and Skynet’s T-3000, in an attempt to stop Judgement Day from ever happening; while trying to uncover the secrets behind Cyberdyne Systems’ new application software: Genisys.
Assisting the trio is Detective O’Brien (Simmons), whose investigation into Terminators and time travellers lead him to learn about Skynet, and helps the protagonists in their mission to avert Judgement Day.
The film was released in the US on 01 July 2015 and grossed $440.6 million worldwide.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth instalment of the franchise and a direct sequel to Terminator 02: Judgement Day.
It is directed by Tim Miller and was released in the US on 01 November 2019.
It stars Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger, reprising their roles as Sarah Connor and the Terminator, respectively.
The film also stars Mackenzie Davis, Natalia Reyes, and Gabriel Luna.
Jude Collie and Brett Azar were also cast as a young John Connor and a younger T-800, respectively.
Terminator Genisys was intended to be the first film in a new stand-alone film trilogy, but the planned sequels were cancelled following the film’s disappointing box-office performance.
Genisys producer David Ellison recruited James Cameron to produce a new film with him, which would become Terminator: Dark Fate.
The film is/was intended as the first in a new trilogy of Terminator films.
In the film, the machines send a Terminator, Rev-9 (Luna), back in time to eliminate Dani Ramos (Reyes), whose destiny is linked to the Human Resistance’s war against them.
The Resistance sends one of their soldiers Grace (Davis) back to protect her, and a chain of events lead Grace and Dani to join forces with Sarah Connor and the T-800.
The writers’ room included Josh Friedman, creator of the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
- Other writers included David S. Goyer, Justin Rhodes and Billy Ray.
The creative team stated that the new film would feature a young 18- to 21-year-old, who could potentially lead the franchise should the first film be successful.
Miller made mention of creating a theme park attraction akin to T2 3-D: Battle Across Time should the film prove successful.
Because the series deals with time-travel, the film ignores the premise of the last three films and the TV series and is not titled Terminator 6, as it is also a direct sequel to Terminator 02: Judgement Day.
Filming began in Isleta del Moro, Almería on 04 June 2018, shooting for a month there, before shooting the rest in the United States.