Tim Miller talks John Connor role in Terminator: Dark Fate (SPOILERS)

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Written by Chris9,963 Reads5 Comments2019-11-08 16:39:40

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!

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5 Comments

Gavin

MemberLegendNov-08-2019 11:16 PM

The idea to kill off John Connor was not Tim Miller's idea, it was James Cameron's (Source - LA Times). The very same guy who not only built up John Connor (and Sarah Connor) as the anchors of the franchise but the same guy that was very vocal about Hicks and Newts' unceremonious deaths in Alien 3 and more recently Elizabeth Shaws off-screen death in Alien: Covenant.

The reason for this hypocrisy is - James Cameron had intended to make a third Terminator movie in the mid-nineties as evidenced by the work he did on T2-3D: Battle Across Time, but after the overwhelming success of Titanic he walked away from the property (and film-making). Whereas the idea to reset or reinvent the franchise is that of David Ellison. While with Deadpool Tim Miller appeased the fans giving them what they wanted, with Dark Fate he did the opposite.

The true third Terminator movie, as fans have pleaded for since 1991 would be set in the future war with the resistance defeating the machines and John Connor sending back Kyle Reese and 'uncle bob' to maintain the loop established in the first two movies.

Some have expressed interest in Gale Anne Hurd, producer of The Walking Dead, re-acquiring the rights to the franchise. However, she is often miscredited as a writer on The Terminator when she was not; she didn't write a single word. Both The Terminator and Terminator 2 were written by James Cameron and William Wisher Jr. To ensure that James Cameron could direct The Terminator he sold the production rights for it to Hurd for one dollar and gave her a writing credit so that she would have the necessary clout as the producer of the movie when dealing with the studio, Orion Pictures. Wisher went uncredited but was given a cameo role in both movies as compensate as 'Policeman' and 'Galleria Photographer', respectively.

dk

MemberLegendNov-08-2019 11:26 PM

It is surprising the franchise has gone on this long. The first few movies were really good but the time paradox is hard to take in all of them. There is even the not so subtle question of incest. It is one of the best series that actually requires a suspension on of reason imo. T1-3 are good. The rest just seem pointless to me.

Kongzilla

MemberContributorNov-09-2019 12:21 AM

>>I'm just not a fan of the Chosen One<<

>>had been chosen by the hand of fate.<<

 

Oh, yes, Tim - what are you talking about?

 

 

Codexas

MemberNoobFeb-15-2020 9:40 PM

The real Terminator 3 is Terminator Resistance. What a story.

Thoughts_Dreams

MemberRespectedMay-13-2020 10:05 AM

I have not watched a Terminator movie since T2, I lost interest after that.

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