There have been more timelines than one can keep count in the Terminator series, which has led to many unresolved plot points left open as the next movie usually moves into another timeline and leaves the previous ones hanging. Now, since Dark Fate’s lack of box office success has led to it being unlikely we’ll be getting another Terminator film at all, the storylines of the most recent movie are also considered unresolved.
In this list, we’ve considered plot holes as storylines as well, seeing as the gaps in the plot ultimately lead to confusion and lack of resolution in the story. We’ve also considered every timeline there is, so read on further to check out 10 unresolved storylines in the Terminator series.
Humanity Collecting Resources To Fight Skynet
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ended on a cliffhanger where Skynet began doomsday and the world fell into a nuclear apocalypse. Clearly, nobody was prepared for a calamity of this kind and there weren’t any resources in place for a revolution.
However, we didn’t get to see at all how humanity rallied together to make somewhat of a base against Skynet, and Terminator Salvation started off with a huge time jump. Logically, this kind of resistance shouldn’t be possible, so there’s a storyline that has always been missing over how John brought the resistance together.
Skynet's Decision With Sending The Terminators
We got to see Skynet achieve some kind of shape in Terminator Genisys when it appeared in a human-like form (looking eerily like a certain character from Doctor Who), meaning we were in to see more of Skynet’s mindset in later (now canceled) films.
One plot point we’ll never know is why Skynet chose to send the Terminators at the particular time periods it did. After all, it would be more prudent to have sent the original Terminator to kill a child Sarah Connor as it would’ve prevented John Reese from ever falling in love with her; there are multiple other scenarios here as well. The justification for Skynet’s logic was one thing we were hoping to find out eventually.
What's Happened With The Alternate Timelines?
Terminator: Dark Fate was placed as the direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but it was established by the studio that the other films weren’t non-canon now; they were meant to be set in alternate timelines.
This means that there’s a definite multiverse thing going on this series, and there’s more than meets the eye. So, was there a possibility we could see the characters jumping universe from the main one to alternates? There’s too much-established ambiguity here for there not to be a potential story about the multiple timelines.
The Fate Of Kyle And Sarah
Terminator Genisys’s ending confirmed that all was not well and that the antagonists would be returning at some point in the future. For the time being, Kyle and Sarah were content with the feeling that they’d won, but more conflict was to follow.
Since Genisys is meant to be in an alternate continuity, the events of Dark Fate hold no bearing on it, meaning Sarah and Kyle aren’t safe. There was meant to be an entire arc that would detail over where these two ended up, but we don’t know if they’re still alive or got ambushed at some point.
The Extent Of A Terminator's Evolution
A subtle storyline going on from as far back as Terminator 2: Judgment Day had been the T-800 model’s evolving tendencies. He had claimed he had it in him to evolve the more he was around humans, and Dark Fate confirmed it when we saw Carl basically become human.
However, the boundaries for this type of evolution process are still up in the air as we don’t know how or why the model suddenly undergoes humanlike changes. With the ending of Skynet itself, we won’t know what made the T-800 tick and its limits for evolution.
The Circumstances Around Sending Kyle To The Past
Kyle had claimed he’d volunteered to go back to the past to save Sarah because he’d fallen in love with a picture of her, but we didn’t get around to seeing these events in the original timeline. Terminator Salvation had shown a teenage Kyle about to begin his friendship with John in 2018, which leaves about eleven years of storyline hanging as Kyle jumped from 2029.
The intention after Salvation had been to establish Kyle’s character and the reasoning behind him falling in love with a picture, but we don’t know why Kyle felt so strongly about Sarah and how he and John had become so close. Terminator Genisys ignored Salvation for the most part, so that film’s events can’t be used as an explanation.
The Reason For A Resistance Leader To Exist
John was killed off only three years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, although it was explained that Skynet wasn’t created due to the effects of Judgment Day coming into play years down the line. However, the same scenario still took place as Legion was created in Skynet’s place and we once again had a future resistance leader in Dani.
Clearly, there was meant to be a resolution in this regard with explanations coming our way as to why history kept repeating itself. Dani had vowed to avert Grace’s death somehow by the end of the film, which confirmed some time travel plotline was about to unfold. Unfortunately, we might never know why there has to be a leader of a resistance no matter how many times the heroes changed history.
The Future Of The Terminator Line
The Judgment Day threat had been averted by Sarah, John, and the T-800, but the wonky timelines meant Terminators from Skynet kept being sent to the past. However, it was also told that Skynet didn’t exist in the future, meaning at some point Terminators stopped existing.
Still, it doesn’t add up as to when the Terminators of the T-800 line and accompanying models ceased to exist, and Carl seemed to be aware of the truth behind this question. It was stated by James Cameron that another Terminator played by Arnold would return in a future sequel, meaning the Skynet-built Terminators were still out there; we just don’t know where they are.
Explaining The 22-Year Gap And Sarah's Skills
After John is killed by Carl, Sarah is next seen 22 years later in the future as a badass Terminator killer, to the point where she seems superhuman in her skills. By this point, she’s become learned about the ways of these machines and has enough skills to contend with them.
However, we don’t have the gaps filled in as to where Sarah started, seeing as she was always helpless against the first two Terminators seen in the series. There was hope future movies would hark back and show Sarah learning the skills she had eventually since it’s a wonder how she became the way she did.
Everything About John Connor
Terminator Genisys’s bizarre time travel plot brought with it more questions than answers, with the chief question being how John Connor was alive when his birth had been averted. John called himself a paradox who wasn’t connected to his parents...for some reason.
Jason Clarke, who had portrayed John, had stated that there were more appearances in store for him, meaning John had survived somehow. There was also a resolution needed over whether his ideology really had changed or if it had been the nanites in him that forced him into believing that Skynet was right.