In terms of messy timelines, the Terminator franchise has got to be right up there with the X-Men series when it comes to a mythology that loves nothing more than to tie itself in knots with every subsequent installment.
Admittedly, James Cameron’s classic opening two movies and Jonathan Mostow’s Rise of the Machines followed a relatively linear story where Kyle Reese has to save Sarah Connor to ensure her son is born, before the T-800 has to save both of them in order to stop Judgment Day, then has to return once more to save John and Katherine Brewster so that their children can live because Judgment Day was actually inevitable all along. But after that, things get confusing.
Of course, the problem can largely be attributed to Salvation, Genisys and Dark Fate all attempting to launch a brand new trilogy, and all falling at the first hurdle. Trying to make sense of how each installment fits into any sort of overarching narrative is impossible, because the plot holes and alterations made to the mythology are simply too vast and attempting to figure it all out just isn’t a worthwhile venture.
Based on a recent interview with Dark Fate star Mackenzie Davis, though, things were about to get even more confusing, as the planned sequels were going to introduce yet another alternate timeline into the mix, which would’ve been a real head-scratcher.
“It was gonna be a sort of timeline thing, where there’d be another timeline that you’d explore. Like, there’s no resurrection, but she came from the future, so…”
We know that James Cameron already had the latest trilogy mapped out before Terminator: Dark Fate became one of the biggest box office bombs of 2019, losing the studio up to $120 million in the process. It may have scored the most enthusiastic reviews that the franchise had seen in close to 30 years, but the fans seemingly lost interest after being burned one too many times.
