The Terminator Timeline Explained

The Terminator Timeline Explained

Gee, where’s Doc Brown and a chalkboard when you need them? Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be explaining the “Terminator” timeline.



For this video, we’re taking a look at all the theatrically released “Terminator” films, as well as the live-action TV series, in order to make sense of the franchise’s timeline. We’ll be excluding any comics, video games, or theme park attractions because then we’d be here until the end of time. That being said, a spoiler alert is now in effect!



This legendary sci-fi story begins in 1984 with a young waitress named Sarah Connor. Sarah may not realize it yet, but she’s destined to bring humanity’s future savior into the world. On August 29, 1997 at 02:14 am Eastern Time, a computer system known as Skynet will develop self-awareness. This Automated Defense Network subsequently launches a nuclear missile strike on Russia, commencing Judgment Day. From the ashes of this nuclear holocaust, AI killing machines known as Terminators rise up to destroy the rest of humanity. The soldier leading the Resistance against Skynet and the Terminators is none other than John Connor, Sarah’s son.



To prevent John from ever being born, Skynet sends a T-800 Terminator model from the year 2029 back in time to assassinate Sarah in 1984. The Resistance sends a soldier named Kyle Reese back to the same time period to protect Sarah. While escaping the clutches of the killer robot, Kyle and Sarah fall in love, but their time together is short-lived, as Kyle is killed in an effort to blow up the T-800. However, it is Sarah who eventually finishes the machine off, crushing it in a hydraulic press. As it turns out, Kyle is John’s father, leaving a pregnant Sarah to give birth to their son with a storm on the horizon.



On one hand, you could argue that this creates a time travel paradox. After all, how could John exist in the future if Kyle hadn’t been sent back in time to impregnate Sarah yet? On top of that, would John Connor have ceased to exist if Skynet never sent a Terminator back in time? Is it possible that someone else was initially John Connor’s father, but the timeline was changed by Kyle? Alas, these questions are all minor nitpicks compared to the gaping plot holes found in some of the future “Terminator” movies.



In “Terminator 2,” the story picks up in 1995 with Judgment Day only two years away. John Connor is now a teenager and has been separated from his mother, who’s in a mental hospital. Skynet has sent a liquid metal Terminator called the T-1000 from the year 2029 to kill John. Instead of sending another human soldier to protect John, the Resistance enlists a reprogrammed T-800. Upon successfully escaping the hospital and reuniting with John, Sarah learns that the one responsible for creating Skynet is a Cyberdyne Systems engineer named Miles Dyson. Following the events of the first film, Cyberdyne discovered the T-800 terminator’s damaged arm and CPU, which they’ve been trying to reverse engineer. Successfully doing so would result in the creation of a neural net processor that’ll evolve into Skynet. So… would Skynet even exist if it didn’t send that first Terminator back to kill Sarah? Again, this might be a paradox, but otherwise the film’s continuity is strong.



Once Dyson is made aware of the future, he agrees that the arm, the CPU, and his lab must be destroyed. Although Cyberdyne’s headquarters gets blown up, Dyson is killed in the process. After the T-1000, the CPU, and the arm are destroyed, all that’s left to demolish is the T-800, to ensure humanity’s future. The T-800 must be lowered into a vat of molten steel to destroy its own chip, leading to a tear-jerking farewell. With Judgment Day prevented, this is naturally where our story ends, right? Not in Hollywood! Not only does the franchise continue, but it branches off into multiple timelines.



The TV series “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” exists in an alternate timeline separate from the movies. Taking place in 1999, four years after the events of “T2,” another Terminator is sent back to assassinate John. Meanwhile, the Connors encounter Cameron, a reprogrammed Terminator sent back from 2029 who’s sworn to protect them. The Connors also learn that Judgment Day wasn’t prevented altogether, but merely delayed until April 21, 2011. Along with Cameron, the Connors travel to the far-off year of… err, 2007… to stop humanity’s impending doom. Even if they are successful in stopping Judgment Day, Sarah’s days are seemingly numbered since she soon discovers that she will die of leukemia in 2005.



Like “The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” also takes place a few years after the events of the second film. In this timeline, Sarah Connor has died of leukemia in 1997, the same year Judgment Day was supposed to take place. Although the world seems to be at peace, a now grown-up John remains paranoid that Skynet will return. John is right to be worried, as Cyber Research Systems has picked up where Cyberdyne left off on Skynet. To make matters worse, T-X, a new female Terminator, is sent back on July 24, 2004 to take out John and other future Resistance fighters.



As you probably guessed, the Resistance sends back their own reprogrammed Terminator to ensure John’s survival. Ironically, it is this very same Terminator that kills John on July 4, 2032, prompting his wife Kate to reprogram it and send it back to protect him. John ultimately finds that Judgment Day can’t be prevented, as Skynet then launches missiles on July 25, 2004 at 6:18 pm Eastern Time, in turn signalling the beginning of both Judgment Day and the end for humanity. John and Kate seek refuge in a fallout shelter as the nuclear war unfolds, preparing counter-measures to face the machines.



The fourth film, “Terminator Salvation,” takes place fourteen years later in the year 2018 where John is still leading the Resistance. Skynet has taken a special interest in a young Kyle Reese, realizing that he’ll become John’s father one day. There’s also Marcus Wright, a mysterious former death row inmate who was turned into a human-terminator hybrid after giving up his body to science in 2003. None of this really matters, however, because the filmmakers decided to retcon everything with the next film, “Terminator Genisys.” This is where things get REALLY confusing!



Everything seems to be moving as planned in 2029 as John prepares to send Kyle back to 1984. When Kyle arrives, though, Sarah is familiar with Skynet and has teamed up with a reprogrammed T-800, who’s already destroyed the original Terminator from the 1984 film. The timeline has been altered and Skynet already sent a T-1000 to 1973 to kill a nine-year-old Sarah. She was saved by the reprogrammed T-800 and together they’ve been making preparations for Judgment Day. With all of these changes, Kyle deduces that Judgment Day will no longer occur in 1997, but rather in 2017. Our heroes thus leap ahead in time where they must stop Skynet, or Genisys as it’s now being called.



Of course, none of that matters either because “Terminator: Dark Fate” hits the reboot switch yet again. The sixth “Terminator” film is actually the third chapter in this timeline, ignoring “Rise of the Machines,” “Salvation,” and “Genisys.” Keeping only the first two films canon, “Dark Fates” takes place 27 years after the event of the second film in the 2020s. Skynet has sent a liquid metal Terminator back in time to eradicate a cyborg-human. This brings Sarah Connor out of retirement, along with an aged T-800 named Carl, and an adult John Connor. Are we heading into the darkest timeline or will this be the film that finally gets the timeline back on track? Whatever awaits, there’s no fate but what we make for ourselves.