Long before any of the follow-up movies, James Cameron made a Terminator 2 sequel in the form of a Universal Studios theme park attraction. It's no secret that the Terminator franchise has been a lesson in the law of diminishing returns. The Terminator is, by most assessments, a great film. Terminator 2 is usually considered as great, or even greater, than its predecessor. Then Terminator 3 came along, and was decent, followed by Terminator: Salvation and Terminator: Genisys, both widely disliked. 2019's Terminator: Dark Fate tried to fix things, but was too little too late in the opinion of many.
While Cameron returned to produce Terminator: Dark Fate, and was heavily involved in the final product, many fans still wonder what a third Terminator film actually directed by the "king of the world" could be like. We'll probably never get to find out, as even if Cameron wanted to make one at this late stage, he's seemingly going to be tied up with the Avatar sequels for the foreseeable future.
However, what many fans may not know is that a Cameron-directed Terminator 2 sequel actually exists. Well, sort of. In 1996, at Universal Studios Florida, a 3D show debuted called Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time. Here's what it included.
The Forgotten Terminator 2 Sequel (That Was a Theme Park Show)
In Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time, Universal Studios park guests were placed in the role of attendees at a technology presentation by Cyberdyne Systems, including the unveiling of their newest creation, an early version of Terminators. Partway through the pre-show, Sarah and John Connor (played again by Linda Hamilton and Edward Furlong) break into the feed to warn of the coming machine uprising, recounting the events of Terminator 2, and saying they thought they had averted judgment day but that it was back on course to happen. Cyberdyne regains control of the feed, and the actual 3D show begins in the next room.
Terminator 2 3D tells its story from then on with a mix of in-person lookalikes for Hamilton, Furlong, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and newly filmed footage of the actors playing on a big screen. Sarah and John interrupt the Terminator unveiling, but soon encounter a T-1000, again played by Robert Patrick, presumably another sent back through time to kill them. A time portal then opens, through which Schwarzenegger's T-800 then arrives to save John and assist Sarah. It's unclear how he's back after being lowered into the steel, but it's a 20-minute total show, so one kind of had to just go with it. It could be assumed that future John had managed to reprogram another T-800, and taught it the same lessons he had as a child, since the series' plot is a stable time loop.
The T-800 takes John back through the portal to the future, the final battle between humans and machines. The two fight through a really cool looking destroyed landscape, taking out various Skynet creations, before making their way to Skynet's headquarters. The duo heads to Skynet's CPU room, where they encounter a T-1000000, essentially a giant T-1000 invented for the attraction. The T-800 again ends up sacrificing himself to save John, blowing up Skynet. It's unclear how, if at all, this would effect the present, where Sarah reunites with John and declares that the battle continues. Obviously, one has to make a lot of allowances for the story of Terminator 2 3D: Battle Across Time to make sense, but James Cameron and company did their best to make a 20-minute experience any Terminator fan could appreciate. Sadly, the show only still exists today at Universal Studios Japan.