Some of The Terminator's deleted scenes reveal that writer/director James Cameron nearly incorporated a subplot that would have essentially used up Terminator 2: Judgement Day's plot in the original film. The first Terminator came out in 1984, with T2 not arriving until seven years later in 1991. It's an iconic sequel to an iconic action movie that has since spawned an entire franchise, but if Cameron had refrained from cutting key moments from the original, it could have been a waste of potential.
The Terminator franchise centers around the self-aware computer system, Skynet, and its objective to wipe out all of humanity, but especially John and Sarah Connor. Of course, the movies are also known for starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800, Terminator's eponymous villain or ally (depending on the film). While some of the franchise's 21st-century installments have had mixed success due to their convoluted storylines, the original Terminator is actually quite straightforward and reads like a fairly traditional horror film. While the T-800 wreaks significant destruction, the movie is more about creeping dread and the terror of technology than huge-budget explosions or complicated time travel maneuvers. The nuances of altering reality and the question of fate wait for T2, as Sarah Connor grapples with a future that she has both caused and seeks to undo.
However, things could have gone differently, as revealed by some important deleted scenes from James Cameron's original Terminator movie. In particular, an ending scene called "The Factory" would have seen Cyberdyne Systems employees discovering remains of the defeated T-800 after the film's events in 1984, thus paradoxically obtaining the knowledge Skynet would eventually use to create the Terminators in the apocalyptic future. But this detail wound up incorporated into T2 instead, along with Sarah's mission to destroy Cyberdyne Systems before Skynet could ever be created.
The significance of Cameron's cut may seem small given that the same story was told anyway, but including "The Factory"'s details in the original Terminator could have undermined T2's effectiveness as a sequel, or removed the possibility of making it altogether. As is, Terminator tees up T2 perfectly without overstepping the boundaries of its elegantly simple horror narrative. The original delivers a striking concept, while the sequel develops its complexities. T2 also effectively switches Terminator's dynamic from one in which Sarah Connor is a helpless civilian into one where she calls the shots as a hardened fighter. If Cameron had kept Terminator's deleted scenes, which trace out a full subplot in which Sarah has the idea to target Cyberdyne and the T-800 parts are discovered by its employees, then there would have been less material for T2 to introduce. This, in turn, would have made the sequel feel less original and impactful, and it wouldn't be able to stand on its own as it currently does. It's even possible that Cameron would never have made the sequel had he used up all his ideas on Terminator.
While it's hard to imagine exactly how the Terminator franchise would have changed if these deleted scenes had made it into the original, the cuts seem to have been for the best when it comes to the movie's pacing. Like Terminator's deleted John Connor scene, the Cyberdyne subplot would have distracted from the chilling immediacy of Reese and Sarah's run from the T-800 and the tragedy of their brief romance. For a film that sparked such a sprawling franchise, The Terminator itself is neat and self-contained, which is why it was smart of Cameron not to waste Terminator 2: Judgement Day's plot in 1984.