Just about every movie-goer has an opinion about terminator movies. Some love them, some love to hate them, and some just love movies that revolve around the terminator. Basically, most people seem to have an opinion about the terminator. But what’s the best way to order them? Well, I’ve heard of people who order them in numerical order, but I’ve never seen anyone with a blog post who has ordered them with the release date.
The Terminator franchise has been a staple of Hollywood for over three decades. While the films take a variety of forms and serve a variety of purposes, they all serve to take a look at a dystopian future where machines have overtaken the human race and take over the world. The four films that comprise the Terminator franchise are widely praised for their grand mix of action, sci-fi, and social commentary, and this format allows us to look at each of the films in order.
It’s been close to 30 years since the first Terminator movie hit the big screen. Yes, that’s right, almost three decades ago. To celebrate this milestone, I’ve written a list of the top 10 Terminator movies, ranked by release date. The #1 spot goes to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, followed by Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Genisys, Terminator Salvation, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator Genisys, Terminator Salvation, and Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins.
In terms of durability, only a few film and television franchises can equal the Terminator series. The series includes a number of science fiction action films, comic books, novels, and other media, all of which center on a total war between Skynet’s synthetic intelligence – a self-aware military machine network – and John Connor’s Resistance forces, which are made up of the human race’s survivors.
The Terminator franchise has been through a lot of turbulence since its creator, James Cameron, left the nest, culminating in some disastrous errors and more than one complete remake. It’s impossible to arrange the Terminator films chronologically due to the intricacies of time travel in the movie (and because there are fractured timelines). The latest chapter in the series, which omits everything but the first two Terminator films, does little to help the problem. As a result, I recommend that you keep reading as I go through the breakdown of the films in the order in which they were released, as well as the canonical narrative sequence.
At a Glance: Terminator Movies in Order of Release Date
Each Terminator film is connected to the one before it and continues the story from the previous film’s ending. Each film focuses on a separate event in which Skynet sends killer robots from the future to alter the result of the last fight. As a consequence, seeing the Terminator films in chronological order is the best way to maintain track of the story and all of the events.
The following is a chronological list of all Terminator films:
- The Terminator is a fictional character created by James Cameron (1984)
- Terminator 2: Judgement Day is a sequel to the film Terminator (1991)
- Rise of the Machines is the third installment in the Terminator franchise (2003)
- Salvation of the Terminators (2009)
- Terminator Genisys is a sequel to the film Terminator 2. (2015)
- Dark Fate of the Terminator (2019)
At a Glance: Terminator Films in Chronological Order
At times, this rambling and shockingly long story may be difficult to follow. That’s to be expected in any series involving time travel, and the fact that the Terminator franchise has undergone many reimaginings in recent years just adds to the confusion. As a result, below is a list of all Terminator films, organized chronologically for your watching pleasure:
- Terminator: Genisys is a sequel to the film Terminator: Genisys (2015)
- The Terminator is a fictional character created by James Cameron (1984)
- Judgement Day is the sequel of Terminator 2. (1991)
- Rise of the Machines is the third installment in the Terminator franchise (2003)
- Salvation, Terminator (2009)
- Dark Fate of the Terminator (2019)
What Is the Order of the Terminator Films in Chronological Order, and How Are They Related?
The prequel to the first film in the series, Terminator: Genisys, tells the story of what happened on the day of the last battle. The film, on the other hand, is completely self-contained and does not follow the events of the first Terminator movie. As a result, the periods are connected in this order:
Terminator: Genisys is the first installment in the Terminator franchise (2015)
Because the Terminator series’ premise is built on changing the past in order to affect the future, it defies traditional chronology. If we go by the chronological order, this film starts with John Conner (Jason Clarke) conquering Skynet in 2029 and sending Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) to 1984 to rescue John’s mother, Sarah (Emilia Clarke).
Sarah’s background, on the other hand, is not what Reese expected: she has spent her whole life preparing to fight the robots. It’s important to realize that this image acts as a reboot for the whole Terminator universe. It changes the events in the first Terminator film, when Sarah was unable to prepare due to a shortage of time. That is, after all, the premise of the franchise: if anything does not go Skynet’s way, it will send killer robots back to change things.
John Connor, the commander of the human rebels battling Skynet, devises a plan to attack Skynet but decides not to go through with it in order to prevent Skynet from carrying out its backup plan of sending a terminator to kill Sarah Connor, the woman who would give birth to John. He fails, so he sends Kyle Reese, his right hand, to protect Sarah. Kyle Reese will be the one to father him.
As Reese walks away, he sees John being attacked by what seems to be a Skynet soldier. When Reese arrives, he is greeted with a terminator unlike any he has ever seen. Sarah, who is aware of his identity and reason for being there, saves him. He also discovers she is in possession of a terminator. She tells him that the terminator he encountered was sent to rescue her when she was nine years old, and that the terminator remained her companion and guardian ever since.
They intercepted the terminator he was pursuing and plan to use its chip to activate a time machine they built in order to go to 1997, the year Skynet was created, but Reese thinks they should proceed to 2017. He says that a voice or memory tells him to remember the date because it is when Skynet will be defeated. As a result, Sarah and Reese leave, while the terminator stays behind and pledges to meet them when they arrive, but they are delayed and an unexpected guest arrives.
The Terminator (film) (1984)
James Cameron returned seven years later to create and direct Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the sequel to his 1980s blockbuster. In every way, the sequel built on its predecessor’s revolutionary technical genius, and it set the bar for ‘90s action pictures until The Matrix changed the game years later. In this retelling of the original story, Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger reprised their roles. In many ways, this is the first successful reboot of The Terminator franchise.
The first film in the Terminator series stars a robotic killer known as Terminator (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). He’s been sent from the war-torn year 2029 to the year 1984 to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the human race’s savior’s mother. Another soldier, Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn), was also returned by humanity, and he ended up fathering Sarah Conner’s child.
The invincible cyborg-assassin known as the “Terminator” is sent back to 1984 Los Angeles from a future 2029–where ice machines control the world–to begin his deadly mission to kill humanity’s most important woman: the unsuspecting Sarah Connor.
However, a battle-scarred defender comes from the same war-torn post-apocalyptic future—Kyle Reese, a brave soldier of the human Resistance Army—dedicated to stopping the mechanical killer from destroying the world’s last hope. The Terminator, on the other hand, is heartless, does not sleep, and, most importantly, will not stop until his terrible task is completed. Is our future inextricably linked to our past?
3. Judgement Day (Terminator 2) (1991)
This is the sequel to the original Terminator movie. It begins in 1995, after an 11-year hiatus. Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) is in prison for trying to bomb a computer company, while her son, John Connor (Edward Furlong), is a teenager in Los Angeles foster care. Two future terminators have arrived with opposing missions: an identical copy of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s original T-800 and a new T-1000 liquid metal terminator (Robert Patrick). One of them has obviously come to carry out Skynet’s orders.
Linda Hamilton is no longer the hapless damsel in distress in need of a future savior, and Arnold is no longer the cold-blooded murderer bent on her death. He is a cyborg sent to retrieve the kid whose existence had been guaranteed by a previous T-800 model, and she is a caged animal on the run. The liquid metal T-1000 (Robert Patrick) was brought to life as the shapeshifting automaton on the hunt for John Connor in The Abyss, thanks to cutting-edge computer graphics (Edward Furlong).
The first Terminator tried to kill Sarah Connor and her unborn son, John, almost a decade ago. The young man who will one day lead humanity’s fight against the Machines is presently a healthy little boy. The supercomputer Skynet, on the other hand, sends another Terminator, the T-1000, back in time. The aim of this new Terminator is to kill John Connor while he is still a child, and it is more intelligent and strong than the original.
Sarah and John, on the other hand, aren’t alone in their fight against the T-1000 threat. A second Terminator is sent back in time to protect them (similar to the one that attempted and failed to murder Sarah Connor in 1984). The battle for tomorrow has begun.
4. The Rise of the Machines (Terminator 3). (2003)
After a 12-year break, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines brings the Terminator franchise back to the big screen. The film is the first chapter of the series that James Cameron or director of photography Adam Greenberg left incomplete, and it serves as an unceremonious send-off for Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) (Ghost). Arnold vs. the T-X (Kristanna Loken), a humorous, contemporary chapter in The Terminator series that builds up the long-awaited fight against the robots, is jam-packed with CGI and explosions.
Terminator 3 picks up ten years after the events of the first film. Skynet’s reawakening was delayed by Sarah Connor’s death, but John Connor (Nick Stahl) is terrified of the computer system finding him and forcing him to live completely off the grid. Skynet is forced to track him down by chasing other members of his resistance group and, of course, by sending back a new terminator, the T-X.
John Connor has become a nomad, living “off the grid” to escape being pursued by future Terminators, more than a decade after the events of “Terminator 2.” SkyNet does, however, send back another – this time, the T-X, which is much more powerful and intelligent than the dreaded T-1000. A second CSM-101 Terminator, however, is sent to protect John from the T-X. Skynet is progressively gaining control of civilian computer systems under the guise of a computer virus.
John has also met Kate Brewster, his future wife, whose father, a General in the US Air Force, is in charge of the military’s computer systems and opposes SkyNet’s uplink. The robots, on the other hand, begin their horrific conquest when the SkyNet virus infects the systems of the US military, exposing the country to attack. A nuclear war will erupt soon, and the battle against the robots will begin. Will the outdated CSM-101 Terminator be able to defeat the highly advanced T-X, or will mankind be doomed in the aftermath of a nuclear attack?
5. Salvation of the Terminators (2009)
Salvation was supposed to be the start of a second Terminator trilogy (the first consisting of Terminator, Terminator 2, and Terminator 3), but the sequels were canceled, leaving us with just John Connor (Christian Bale) and the rest of mankind in a dystopian 2018. We see Connor learn that the resistance is planning an all-out attack, based on intelligence suggesting that Skynet will kill the entire resistance leadership in days, with John’s father, Kyle Reese, at the top of the list (Anton Yelchin).
Marcus Wright is on death row at the Longview State Correctional Facility in 2003 when he is convinced by cancer researcher Dr. Serena Kogan to donate his body to her. Only John Connor survives a botched assassination attempt on a Skynet facility in 2018, but he discovers that Skynet is developing the powerful new model T-800. Marcus shows up naked and amnesiac in an unexpected location. Marcus encounters Kyle Reese, a teen, and Star, a woman, both of whom help him survive the lethal robots.
In a Jeep, they ride together. Meanwhile, the resistance discovers a signal capable of shutting down the machines, and John offers to put it to the test. When Kyle is abducted by a machine and brought to Skynet’s headquarters, Marcus decides to save him; while there, he rescues Blair Williams, who instructs him to first visit John Connor. Marcus, on the other hand, trips over a mine and is sent to the hospital, where a mystery regarding his beginnings is revealed.
6. The Terminator: Apocalypse (2019)
Although the film is set in the near future of 2024, the latest chapter in the Terminator series was released in 2019.
Sarah Connor’s destiny is revealed in Dark Fate, a direct sequel to Terminator 2. (Linda Hamilton). She joins forces with her son, John Connor (Jude Collie), to combat Skynet, a hostile artificial intelligence. While some may claim that this film ignores the events of the other films in the series, it is more fair to think of it as the culmination of all prior events in the timeline.
In Terminator 2, Sarah and John defeated Skynet, averting the 1997 Judgement Day.
All following films and television programs, even those set in the future, portray events that happened in the same chronology as the 1997 disaster. Sarah and John’s fate after averting the apocalypse is revealed in Terminator: Dark Fate, and how their victory against Skynet merely postponed the threat of artificial intelligence.
Twenty-five years after Skynet’s nuclear menace was destroyed in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), another seemingly unimportant human—this time, Dani Ramos, an unwitting car assembly worker—sets in motion a deadly scheme against mankind devised by the future’s dictatorial robots. The self-aware computer system sends its most powerful android assassin back in time to murder young Dani in 2024 Mexico City—the nearly indestructible terminator made of sophisticated mimetic polymer alloy Rev-9.
Grace, a bionically enhanced Resistance fighter who reluctantly joins forces with an unexpected ally and battle-tested defender from the past: the armed-to-the-teeth Sarah Connor, arrives from the distant year 2042. The world was spared the consequences of Judgment Day because of Sarah’s sacrifice. Is it still feasible for the trio of guardians to change the course of history?
Is it necessary to watch Terminator in chronological order?
Those who are indifferent with dipping in and out of competing continuities should just watch each Terminator film in order. All of the Terminator movies have a common plot and numerous allusions to previous events. Furthermore, the series’ jumbled chronology and frequent jumps between future and past make it essential to see the whole series in order.
In Terminator, what is Canon?
All of the Terminator films are canon, albeit they take place in various timelines. Many fans consider Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day by James Cameron to be canon. However, making such a decision is inadvisable.
It’s important to remember that the Terminator narrative is made up of many different elements, some of which are more true to the original idea or James Cameron’s work than others. What I can say is that each of the films mentioned below contributes to the canon in its own way. The many levels under James Cameron’s invention are meant to show how “far” a product deviates from the original, not whether it is more or less canon.
To put it another way,
- The first timeline (in order of theatrical release): 1, 2, 3, Salvation
- The second timeline (the Genisys timeline) is as follows: 1, 2, Genisys.
- The third timeline (now the canon timeline, with James Cameron in all of them) is as follows: 1, 2, Dark Fate.
All of the preceding T2 sequels are just various branches of different potential futures. They’re all canon in that sense. Personally, I believe they are all canon, and continuity problems are signs that the chronology is warping. As a result, whenever judgment day is postponed, the past (and the future) shifts.
Robert Patrick and Schwarzenegger? What more could you want? I won’t say too much, but if you like action movies and the Terminator franchise, especially the first two, you’ll love this list.. Read more about terminator watch order reddit and let us know what you think.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the correct order to watch Terminator movies?
Terminator 1, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Salvation
Are The Terminator movies connected?
The Terminator movies are not connected.
How many movies does Terminator have?
There are four movies in the Terminator franchise.
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