SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TERMINATOR: DARK FATE
Since the very first Terminator film, John Connor has played a vital role to the franchise's storyline. However in Terminator: Dark Fate his fate is sealed rather early on, leaving him absent from the film's main plotline.
In Terminator: Dark Fate, we learn that SkyNet had sent a number of T-800 Terminators back in time to track down John and terminate him before he could lead the Resistance in their fight against the machines. This is after the events of Terminator 2 where John befriends the T-800 he himself sent back in time to protect himself.
During the opening sequence of the film, we witness the last, lone T-800 ambush John and his mother Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton). The T-800 (which later we learn to be Carl, aka Arnold Schwarzenegger's role in this movie) effectively terminates John before Sarah can save him.
To many, this was a confusing plot twist, but director Tim Miller recently sat down with THR to discuss the decision of terminating John Connor - essentially ret-conning every subsequent Terminator sequel which came before this one:
You'd think it [killing John off] was probably a controversial decision, but it really wasn't. There was a lot of talk at the really early stages of should this new savior be someone who was connected to the Connors? Should it be John's daughter or something like that? Which I was always against, because I'm just not a fan of the Chosen One sort of movie as much as I am of a hero sort of rising to meet adversity, who could be an everyman or an everywoman. I identify with those people much more than I do with Neo in The Matrix or King Arthur or something like that. So I was all for this being some new person that wasn't connected to the Connors and had been chosen by the hand of fate.
We all knew a couple of things. One: Sarah Connor is not a happy character. She is best when she is driven and tragic and you need some rocket fuel for that. You can't have John be a 36-year-old accountant somewhere. And really, when you think about it, he could be sort of a pathetic figure as a man who had missed his moment in history and was relegated to this banal, ordinary existence, when in fact had Sarah not chosen to destroy Cyberdyne, he would be the leader of humanity. Nobody wants to see that. Secondly, [John's death], that's rocket fuel for Sarah. And lastly, you need to clear the stage for these new characters. They are not going to be able to have their moment, or come into their moment, with John hanging around. There's just no good way to do that.
Everybody was in pretty strong agreement, and the way to start it, was really, you want to have this dramatic impact. You want to slap the audience in the face and say, "Wake up. This is going to be different." I feel like that accomplished that. I hate the violence of it. I hate the idea of a kid being shot, but the dramatic fuel that it gives the story is kind of undeniable.
Do you agree it was a good move to kill off John Connor in Dark Fate? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
