What happens: In 2029, John Connor sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother and ensure his birth, as seen in the original Terminator movie. This turns out not to be the case, with Marcus, the cyborg in question, actually a sleeper agent intended to kill Connor during a sting operation having lured him into a false sense of security learning of his fate, Marcus turns on Skynet, and ultimately sacrifices himself so that Connor can live. In 2018, the robot dystopia has been in existence for more than a decade, and Connor and Brewster are the leaders of the resistance when they discover a cyborg who appears to be self-aware and not part of Skynet’s plans. Although they manage to stay alive, Connor and Brewster cannot prevent the rise of Skynet, which fires nuclear missiles across the world, creating the robotic despot future central to the franchise. In 2007, John Connor has been living for some years in secret following the death of his mother, Sarah, at some undisclosed point in the last decade nonetheless, he comes under attack from another time-traveling evil robot sent to kill members of the future human resistance, including his own future wife, Kate Brewster. What happens: Following the events of Terminator 2, the emergence of Skynet has been postponed but not, it seems, cancelled.
#Terminator films series
The series ends as John Connor travels forward in time to the point where Skynet has taken over the planet, only to discover that his journey has somehow altered the timeline to the effect that he is no longer the leader of the human resistance.Īs seen in: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Terminator: Salvation (2009) The Connors are assisted in their survival by a re-programmed time-traveling cyborg from 2027, two years prior to the future origin point of the original time-traveling cyborg, and together the three travel through time to 2007, where they discover not only more time-traveling evil robots, but also more time-traveling resistance fighters, including Derek Reese, the uncle to Kyle Reese.
What happens: In 1999, Sarah and John Connor are still on the run and under attack from evil time-traveling robots sent by Skynet in the future it turns out that the events of Terminator 2 delayed Skynet’s activation until 2011, but that it will nonetheless take over the world and decimate humanity. Technically, this is at least two timelines - the one Kyle Reese and his fellow time-travelers came from, and a second timeline after the scientist partially responsible for Skynet (thanks to researching parts from the T-800 in the first film) is killed without completing his work - but we’ll put them all together here for the sake of centering Sarah and John Connor in the narrative.Īs seen in: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009) In the process of destroying the shapeshifting robot, one of the men most responsible for the future creation of Skynet is killed, leaving it unclear whether or not the emergence of Skynet in 1997 will happen as Kyle Reese had previously stated.
A second time-traveling cyborg, this one re-programmed to be a good guy, arrives to help them. The cyborg is stopped by Connor with the assistance of Kyle Reese, a soldier also sent back from 2029 who - in a classic time paradox - ends up becoming John’s father before dying.ġ1 years later, Connor and her son are attacked again, this time by a shapeshifting robot from 2029. What happens: In 1984, a cyborg sent back in time from the year 2029 arrives with the mission to kill Sarah Connor, the woman destined to be the mother of John Connor, a resistance leader that will ultimately threaten Skynet, the AI despot overlord of 2029.
As seen in: The Terminator (1984), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)