Make no mistake; just like its legendary hero, the Terminator franchise will be back. The real question, and it’s a massively important one, is whether or not anyone will care when it does.
Based on recent evidence, the answer would seem to be a resounding “no.” We’ve seen Salvation, Genisys, and Dark Fate all arrive within the space of 10 years to tout themselves as the movie fans have always wanted to see, one that would launch an entire trilogy to bring the property back to the lofty status it enjoyed at its peak. Naturally, every single one of them failed miserably.
It’s almost certainly time to stick a fork in Terminator for at the very least a really long time, and things have gotten so bad that fans are disregarding 27 years of canon in favor of designating a theme park attraction as the end of the line. Over on Reddit, T2-3D: Battle Across Time has been named by one disgruntled die-hard as “the true conclusion to Terminator franchise,” and it’s easy to see why.
James Cameron directs, the gang gets back together from T2, and it’s a spiritual successor. Then again, more respect should be put on the name of Rise of the Machines because we’ll die on the hill that it’s underrated, and the exact same sentiment applies to the criminally overlooked Sarah Connor Chronicles.
The other three? Sure, toss them onto the scrapheap, because there’s not many people that are going to miss them. However, we will not stand for Chronicles erasure in this house, regardless of how awesome Battle Across Time was during its lengthy residency at Universal Studios resorts around the world before slowly being phased out.