10 Terminator Movie Characters Who Can Appear In Netflix's New Show

May 16, 2024, 1 p.m.

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10 Terminator Movie Characters Who Can Appear In Netflix's New Show

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Summary Netflix's Terminator Zero will focus on new characters fighting in the future war between humanity and Skynet.

The show has the potential to include cameos of classic characters such as Sarah Connor to add depth.

Terminator Zero may delve into the ethics of AI development and the moral dilemmas of its creators.

A dozen or so characters from the Terminator movies could possibly appear in Netflix's new show, the latest addition to the franchise. The AI time-travel saga spans six movies and a live-action TV show, depicting the ongoing battles of various time travelers sent back in time from a future war between humans and machines. Netflix's anime series Terminator Zero will focus on new characters within the same context of the conflict between humanity and Skynet, according to the official synopsis (via Variety):

“2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity. Caught between the future and this past is a soldier sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee who works to launch a new AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future which forever alters the fate of his three children.”

One of the reasons Netflix's Terminator Zero show already looks better than Terminator 7 is the storyline of the Connor family's survival has been exhausted in the cinematic format. Terminator: Dark Fate saw some success with a plot that is largely derivative of the original Terminator plot, albeit focusing on the protection of a new future resistance leader. However, it is still clear that the franchise needs to shake things up if it is to continue. While a new story is vital, some of the best Terminator movie characters could have roles in Terminator Zero.

Movie/TV show Release date The Terminator 1984 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 2003 Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 2008-2009 Terminator Salvation 2009 Terminator Genisys 2015 Terminator: Dark Fate 2019 Terminator Zero 2024

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10 John Connor From T2, T3, & Salvation

Played By Edward Furlong, Michael Edwards, Nick Stahl, & Christian Bale

The synopsis for Terminator Zero does not explicitly confirm that the timeline the new characters are in is one where John Connor is the leader of the resistance, but this seems most likely. Presumably, the soldier sent back is a part of John's resistance, and while she is having her time travel adventure, he is slowly working toward humanity's victory. There, she might mention him as the person who sent her back in time, unless it was someone else. She could still have met him in 2022.

The allusion to the date of 1997 also implies that the show takes place in a timeline where Judgment Day happens on the original date of August 29, 1997. John and his mother would have known it was coming and might play into the plot as they try to help people survive the destruction. Therefore, the show's main characters could reference John as an adult or meet him again as a teenager.

9 Sarah Connor From The Terminator, T2, & Dark Fate

Played By Linda Hamilton

Terminator 7 is a doomed project because any new addition to the Terminator franchise is bound to fail without some appearance by the great Sarah Connor if the movies’ track record is any indication. Sarah always has the potential to crop up in the story in the same places as John. According to T3, Sarah died of Leukemia sometime in the late 90s and would have been very sick around the time of the 1997 Judgment Day. However, if they ignore this plot point (as Dark Fate does), it could result in some more interesting beats for her character.

If Sarah survives into the 2000s, Terminator Zero could show her protecting her son and helping begin resistance in the early days of the war. She could, technically, survive until the 2022 setting, but the original Terminator implies that by the 2020s Sarah has died and John is on his own. It is more likely that the show’s main characters will run into Sarah in the past. Alternatively, both Sarah and John could have been mentors to the new soldier character in the future before she is sent back in time.

8 Kate Connor (Née Brewster) From T3 & Salvation

Played By Claire Danes & Bryce Dallas Howard

After stating that she is going to become a major figure in humanity’s survival, the Terminator movies never show Kate being an inspiring leader.

After being given a decent start as a character in T3, John’s (future) wife Kate is underused by the series. What can be inferred about her from the information the movies provide is that she goes from being a veterinarian to an unofficial doctor, without a traditional education, and eventually becomes John’s second-in-command. Kate was allegedly incredibly valuable to the forming resistance immediately after Judgment Day due to her connections to the U. S. military. She also likely learned more about technology, weaponry, and espionage from John along the way.

Kate is another character who could be referenced as a mentor by Terminator Zero's protagonist, possibly appearing in flashbacks or dreams. After stating that she is going to become a major figure in humanity’s survival, the Terminator movies never show Kate being an inspiring leader. Terminator Zero could fix this with even just a few short scenes featuring Kate.

7 Dani Ramos From Dark Fate

Played By Natalia Reyes

An appearance by Dani from Dark Fate in Terminator Zero would require a lot of narrative legwork but could potentially be very satisfying. Essentially, the entire circumstances of Dani’s life would be different because she is born after or just before Judgment Day in 1997, while Dark Fate shows her having reached adulthood before the AI awakening happens. Assuming that she is born around the same time and survives, Dani would likely be a resistance soldier in her early 20s by 2022.

It is a “what if” scenario that asks the audience to suspend its disbelief and accept that Dani somehow survived for the sake of overlapping with the most recent movie — even more so if Grace (Mackenzie Davis) were still a part of Dani's story. However, Dark Fate only shows Dani at the beginning of her journey, and it would be great if she had an extended role in the Terminator franchise. It would also be very interesting to see her interact with John because they fulfill the same role in humanity’s future in different timelines.

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6 Barnes From Salvation

Played By Common

In the context of Salvation being the planned beginning of a new Terminator trilogy, casting Common as John's right-hand man was what the producers probably thought was a brilliant move. If Salvation had been a good movie and had provided any development for the character, a soldier known only as "Barnes," Common would have been a valuable addition to the franchise; he certainly gives an excellent performance as Cassian in John Wick: Chapter 2. Therefore, Barnes ended up being another aspect of Terminator constituting major wasted potential.

However, if Terminator Zero is creating a fleshed-out depiction of war-torn 2022 with strong supporting characters, there is another chance to do Common's Terminator character justice. If the events of Salvation have any bearing, Barnes' brother dies while in combat with John in 2018. After this, Barnes is more loyal to John than the other resistance leaders and likely spends the rest of the war determined to help John see them to the end.

5 Kyle Reese From The Terminator, Salvation, & Genisys

Played By Michael Biehn, Anton Yelchin, & Jai Courtney

Kyle could also function as a supporting character in 2022 in Terminator Zero. Of course, the implications of his character are completely different, due to John and the audience's knowledge that Kyle is John's father. Kyle inspires Sarah to live off the grid with her son and learn everything she can to survive the coming war. Salvation and Genisys give Kyle some more screen time and character development of his own, but he is overshadowed by the fact that neither are good movies.

If anything, Genisys proves that Kyle being told that John is his son doesn't really work for the story. Therefore, if Kyle appears in Terminator Zero, it will likely be a brief cameo serving as an Easter Egg that ties the franchise together. While the audience is aware that John is around Kyle for years and never tells him the truth, constantly showing this dynamic would distract from the new characters who are supposed to be the focus of the show.

4 Bill (& Elizabeth) Anderson From T3

Play By Brian Sites

T3 undermines the importance of the people who help John win the war by killing them all off without consequence. Two of John’s future lieutenants killed by the T-X (Kristanna Loken) are brother and sister William and Elizabeth Anderson, who are both teenagers at the time. The movie only shows Bill, who answers the door during a party he and his sister are hosting while their parents are out. He tells the T-X that his sister is upstairs before she kills him and presumably goes to kill Elizabeth as well.

Here T3 abruptly ends what could have been an interesting subplot in the Terminator franchise. The possibility of a pair of teenage siblings surviving Judgment Day and going on to both become valuable lieutenants to John sounds like a great story in its own right. If Judgment Day happens in 1997, Bill and Elizabeth would be younger, but they wouldn’t have been killed by the T-X. Because their story isn’t told in the movies, Terminator Zero could make them supporting characters with a compelling smaller narrative.

3 Miles Dyson From T2

Played By Joe Morton

Terminator Zero might be leaning into the debate about the ethics and value of AI development more than any previous Terminator movie or TV show, which makes sense given that real-life AI is more advanced now. An "AI system designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack" is a completely new and somewhat shocking factor in the Terminator story, as well as an engineer who "navigates the moral complexities of his creation." It only makes sense that this scientist, named Malcolm Lee in the synopsis, at some point meets or is at least aware of Miles Dyson.

Despite being a franchise with a completely broken canon, the Terminator movies still agree that Dyson has some role in the rise of Skynet. To some extent, Dyson never ponders the "moral complexities" of his technology: He goes from being a passionate designer to abandoning the project entirely when the Connors tell him about the future. Terminator Zero could use Dyson's character as a cautionary tale within the show's scientific community. He could also present an extreme perspective on Malcom's dilemma, saying that no AI technology can be good.

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2 Star From Salvation

Played By Jadagrace

Terminator Zero offers the opportunity to explore this character who has so far only played a minor role in the franchise before being forgotten completely.

Star’s character has boundless potential because she isn’t much of a character at all in Salvation; her primary narrative purpose is to contribute to Kyle's characterization. However, she survives the events of Salvation and constitutes a blank slate, meaning the writers can do almost anything with her. She could have any backstory and be any kind of specialized soldier in resistance. The show could also shed some light on her relationship with Kyle after Salvation since he does not mention her in The Terminator.

However, the show would need to spend a significant amount of time in the 2022 setting for Star to play a role in the story because she wouldn’t have been born yet in 1997. In 2022, Star could be anything from Kate’s assistant to the Terminator Zero protagonist’s best friend to a soldier doing solo operations. Terminator Zero offers the opportunity to explore this character who has so far only played a minor role in the franchise before being forgotten completely.

1 The T-800 From All The Terminator Movies

Played By Arnold Schwarzenegger

Since T2, it has been a tradition of the franchise that at least one friendly Terminator or a human enhanced by technology will be an ally of the main characters. If Terminator Zero were a live-action movie, the hope would be that the T-800 in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger would return to help the new cast with their mission. Because the show is animated, it is theoretically easier to include a T-800 in the story, even though Schwarzenegger has said he is not returning to the Terminator franchise.

However, Terminator Zero then has the new challenge of finding a voice actor who can live up to Schwarzenegger's performance. The movies demonstrate that Terminator is at its best when some version of the T-800 is involved, suggesting that Netflix will at least attempt to incorporate him into the story. Yet the T-800 is just one movie character who could help make the new show a hit.

Source: Variety