Some viewers may be surprised to learn that James Cameron's 1991 blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgement Day was set in the future. Three years in the future, to be precise. Before subsequent sequels upended everything by throwing paradox-related caution to the wind to varying degrees of success, the first sequel to 1984's The Terminator began messing with the timeline, albeit in subtle and barely noticed ways. There were some good reasons for doing so, both story and behind-the-scenes related.
T2, as everyone, including TriStar's marketing department, called it, burst onto movie screens in the summer of 1991 to critical acclaim and record-breaking numbers. With computer generated special effects the likes of which had never been seen before by moviegoers, it eclipsed 1982's E.T. the Extraterrestrial as the highest-grossing film of all time, an accomplishment still nearly unheard of for an R rated movie. There is currently only one R rated title in the top fifty. It would hold that position for two years until Steven Spielberg reclaimed the box office crown with Jurassic Park. Even so, James Cameron would twice more hold the all-time box office record in years to come.
For the sequel, James Cameron took what worked from the original film: a deadly cyborg is sent from a post-apocalyptic future where sentient machines have enslaved humanity in the aftermath of a global nuclear war to assassinate the hero who will eventually lead the human race to victory, and the lone protector sent back by the human resistance to guard them. However, Cameron would have to shuffle his own timeline a bit to make everything work.
Terminator 2 Was Set In The Future - Here's Why
In the original film, which was more cat-and-mouse horror story than action thriller, the intended target is Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor, mother of the as yet unborn savior, John Connor. Before the end of the first movie, Sarah has conceived the child with Kyle Reese, her guardian from the future, who died protecting her in the first movie's final act. T2 would feature John himself as the target of both the T-1000 liquid metal assassin and Arnold Schwarzenegger's OG T-800, who has been sent to protect him. The first movie took place in the year it was released, 1984, and so it can be presumed that John was born in late 1984 or early 1985. Early in T2, we are shown in John's police record that he is ten years old, and thus the movie takes place in 1994 or 1995, a few years after its 1991 release.
Quite simply, they needed to age up the John Connor character. Having a six or seven year old child in the film wouldn't have worked for a character who rides a dirt bike without a helmet, hacks ATMs, knows his way around all kinds of weaponry, has a complex emotional range, and makes some wisecrack remarks. There are also more practical reasons for the switch: child labor laws and the fact that subjecting a six year old to those kind of dangerous stunts and shooting schedules would have been an insurance nightmare for the studio.
Though The Terminator gives no specific date for the nuclear apocalypse to come, Terminator 2: Judgement Day makes it clear that "three billion human lives ended on August 29, 1997" as Sarah Connor intones in the opening narration. Moving the time frame three years forward and thus three years closer to Judgement Day gives everything increased urgency and stakes, which contribute tremendously to the overall tone of the story.