The Terminator 2: Judgment Day provided a conclusive ending to the story, the franchise has had four separate reboots on the big screen, and they’ve all failed to reinvigorate the property.

In the years since T2, Terminator has found much more success on the small screen. The franchise’s first TV show, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, is an underrated gem following Sarah and John Connor on their quest to prevent the creation of Skynet. The most recent series, Terminator Zero, is an acclaimed anime show on Netflix telling a standalone Terminator story in 1997 Tokyo. These TV shows have both done a risky thing that every single movie in the series has been too afraid to do.

Neither The Sarah Connor Chronicles Nor Terminator Zero Included Arnold Schwarzenegger

Schwarzenegger Sat Out The TV Shows

Neither of the Terminator TV shows have featured Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as the T-800. The movies have been too risk-averse to move away from the franchise’s biggest star. Schwarzenegger had leading roles in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator Genisys, and Terminator: Dark Fate. Even in Terminator Salvation, Schwarzenegger’s likeness makes a cameo appearance in a fan-service fight scene. The filmmakers see Schwarzenegger as their secret weapon, and they’re afraid to make a Terminator movie without him.

Movie/TV Show

RT Score

The Terminator

100%

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

91%

Terminator Zero

86%

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

85%

Terminator: Dark Fate

70%

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

70%

Terminator Salvation

33%

Terminator Genisys

26%

But the two best Terminator projects since T2 (at least according to Rotten Tomatoes) have moved beyond Schwarzenegger. There are different reasons and contexts for why Schwarzenegger didn’t appear in the TV shows, but in both cases, moving away from the franchise’s biggest star led to more interesting stories. It showed that you can do Terminator without the usual names. Obviously, The Sarah Connor Chronicles had Sarah and John, but everything else felt fresh.

The Terminator TV Shows' Limitations Ended Up Being Their Biggest Strengths

It Forced The Creators To Get Creative

When filmmakers are dealing with a massive tentpole budget on a film like Genisys or Dark Fate, they can just throw money at every problem that comes up. But the limitations of a TV show can enforce creativity. The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Terminator Zero were both limited by the absence of Schwarzenegger (obviously, the world-renowned A-lister wouldn’t be in the TV show), but they were also limited by their budgets and what they could do. And in both cases, it led to some of the freshest and most original storytelling in the Terminator franchise.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes