Playing the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day made Robert Patrick a star, but another surprising actor was almost cast in the role first. While there are definitely some who would passionately disagree, most people seem to regard Terminator 2 as being one of the rare sequels that bests the original. That's no easy task, as The Terminator is an iconic film in its own right, a thrilling blend of horror, sci-fi, and action that's sure to delight viewers no matter how many times they've seen it.

At its core though, Terminator 2 is an evolution of the ideas and themes presented in the first film, backed by a much higher budget that allows for breathtaking special effects and action scenes featuring wanton destruction. The storyline is more complex and layered than The Terminator, there's a higher body count, bigger stakes, more locations and characters, and a much more dangerous threat. To bring things full circle, the T-800 model that once terrorized Sarah Connor is now John Connor's protector, against a more advanced type of Terminator.

Related: Terminator 2: The Deleted T-1000 Subplot That Explains His Defeat

It turns out though that James Cameron's earlier plan for the T-1000 would've truly been a mirror image of the first Terminator film, turning it into a sort of dark reprisal. Sadly, the idea was abandoned during pre-production.

Terminator 2: The Surprising Actor Who Almost Played the T-1000

Kyle Reese with a shotgun in Terminator

It's become pretty well-known that James Cameron's original choice to play the T-1000 was a quite off the wall pick: 1980s rock star Billy Idol. However, a bad motorcycle accident precluded his participation. Cameron then hit on another idea for the role, one that could've been tons of fun for Terminator fans. Cameron wanted to have Michael Biehn, who played Kyle Reese in the first movie, play the T-1000 in Terminator 2. This would've flipped the script from what fans knew, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the hero and Biehn as the villain.

The scripted explanation for the T-1000 taking Kyle Reese's appearance was that Skynet had somehow gotten hold of Reese's DNA, and used it when designing the new Terminator model. As cool as that sounds though, Cameron ultimately decided that audiences would get confused by the scenario, and that he was over-complicating things. He may well have been right, but at the same time, the dramatic potential of Sarah Connor having to fight alongside the T-800 against someone who looks and sounds exactly like her lost love is huge. Biehn did end up making a quick cameo in Terminator 2, although it was deleted from the theatrical cut.

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