The only way for the Terminator reboot to win back audiences is to do the unthinkable for the franchise and move away from the Connor family.
It’s hard to deny that the Terminator franchise has struggled to keep viewers engaged in its latest installments, but the series could forge a new path by completely abandoning the story of John Connor, his mother Sarah, and their family. Released in 1984, The Terminator was a promising start to the sci-fi horror franchise. The gripping thriller tells the story of Terminator franchise heroine Sarah Connor, who was pursued by the eponymous killer robot who hoped to kill her before she impregnated the future leader of the human resistance, John.
However, while the original Terminator and its first sequel were huge
successes, blockbusters and later installments have struggled to regain popularity. The third Terminator film, Rise of the Machines, introduced audiences to an older, independent John Connor, while the fourth was a post-apocalyptic war film set decades in the future. However, none of these installments were able to recapture the magic of the first two Terminators.
The slump continued with the confusing Terminator Genysys reboot, which mixed up the saga’s timeline, and 2019’s Dark Fate, which received some of the series’ worst reviews to date. Both
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audiences and critics seem to agree that the Terminator series has now run its course and that the next installment needs a clean slate. With that in mind, there would be no greater sign of a new beginning than giving John and Sarah Connor a break, especially since after numerous recasts, time jumps, and timeline resets, the franchise has already done just about everything it can with them. . This may seem like a radical move, but it could save the Terminator series by introducing new blood and revitalizing the concept.
As far back as 2009’s Terminator Salvation, whose original script focused on a robot protagonist and left
Connor as a supporting character, the series flirted with this approach. However, the creative team returned repeatedly to putting the Connor family front and center to ensure that fans of the franchise weren’t disappointed – although this approach didn’t help the critical reception of the last four films. Few audiences wanted to see more from John Connor after Nick Stahl’s turn in Rise of the Machines. However, the character in Terminator Salvation was nonetheless enhanced by his potentially more intriguing robot counterpart when Christian Bale came on board, purely to let audiences know that Connor was the hero of this Terminator outing. .
In fairness to the creators, the recent history of the series makes it clear that no one can replace the Terminator’s Connor. Simply eliminating characters isn’t enough to effectively spark interest unless the Terminator franchise adds new, compelling characters in their place, a mistake that was highlighted when the last sequel dropped John and then introduced one of the least interesting new additions in the series . his place. The canceled sequel to Terminator: Dark Fate, which would have revived the film’s new heroine Grace, is evidence that the series still needs to find a compelling non-Connor protagonist if it is to succeed.