Kyle Reese

Sergeant Kyle Reese is a dedicated Tech-Com soldier in the human Resistance against Skynet, identified by serial number DN38416. From 2021 to 2027, he served in the 132nd under Justin Perry before transferring to John Connor’s elite fighting unit in 2027. Reese, who came to view John as a surrogate father, was ultimately chosen in 2029 to travel back in time to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor from a T-800 Model 101 Terminator. Through a predestination paradox, he becomes John Connor’s biological father.

Names	Kyle Reese
Gender	Male ♂
Race	Human
Occupation	Tech-Com Soldier
Origin	The Terminator (October 26, 1984)
Alignment	Heroic
Age	26
Created By	James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher, Jr.
Personality Type	ISTJ, 6w5 (Enneagram)
Portrayed By	Michael Biehn (The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) Anton Yelchin (Terminator Salvation) Jai Courtney Bryant Prince (12-yr old), (Terminator Genisys)

Appearance

Kyle Reese is a lean, athletic man with a rugged and battle-worn appearance, shaped by years of surviving in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In The Terminator, he has short, unkempt brown hair, sharp facial features, and a perpetually tired yet determined expression. His clothing is typically practical for combat, often consisting of military-style fatigues, scavenged gear, or stolen civilian clothes. Upon arriving in 1984, he wears a stolen trench coat and pants after taking them from a homeless man.

In Terminator Salvation, a younger Kyle Reese is portrayed as a teenage survivor with a thinner frame but still retains his resilience. He wears makeshift combat gear and has a rough, dirty appearance due to the harsh environment. His future self in Terminator Genisys has a more muscular build, likely reflecting his years of training in Tech-Com under John Connor.

Personality

Kyle Reese is a hardened soldier with an unshakable sense of duty, loyalty, and determination. He is highly disciplined and deeply devoted to the Resistance, particularly to John Connor, whom he views as both a leader and a friend. Despite growing up in a war-torn world, Kyle retains a sense of compassion and vulnerability, especially regarding Sarah Connor. His love for her, despite only knowing her through a photograph, drives his selfless nature, making him willing to risk everything for her.

He is fiercely protective and courageous, never hesitating to put himself in harm's way. However, he is also deeply scarred by his traumatic past, suffering from PTSD and frequent nightmares of the war. His harsh upbringing has made him resourceful and quick-thinking, allowing him to adapt to different situations under extreme pressure.

Kyle struggles with expressing his emotions, particularly his feelings for Sarah, as he is more accustomed to combat than relationships. While he is generally serious and mission-focused, his interactions with Sarah sometimes reveal a softer, almost awkward side, particularly when dealing with emotions and affection.

In Terminator Genisys, Kyle’s personality is slightly more cynical and frustrated due to the timeline changes. He is initially distrustful of Pops and resistant to Sarah's altered destiny but ultimately remains committed to protecting her. Over time, he learns to accept change and embraces his feelings for Sarah despite the uncertain future.

Original Timeline

Kyle Reese was born around 2003, during or after the early years of the war against Skynet. He was one of the last survivors to witness humanity’s eventual triumph over the machines.

Captured by Skynet, Reese was imprisoned in a concentration camp, where he and other human slaves were forced to incinerate the bodies of the fallen. His liberation came when John Connor’s Tech-Com forces stormed the camp and freed the captives. Reese later served in the 132nd Division until 2027, fighting in the Oregon and New Mexico offensives, before being promoted to sergeant and transferred directly under John Connor’s command.

As the war progressed, the Resistance launched a final assault on Skynet, breaking through its defense grid and infiltrating its main complex. In a desperate last move, Skynet activated a time displacement device, sending a T-800 back to May 12, 1984, with orders to assassinate Sarah Connor before she could give birth to John. Recognizing the threat, John Connor selected a single soldier to follow the Terminator and ensure Sarah’s survival—Kyle Reese volunteered for the mission. With no way back, Reese was sent through time, moments before the Resistance destroyed Skynet’s time machine.

The Terminator (1984)

Arriving in 1984 unarmed, Reese quickly stole clothes and acquired a shotgun before tracking down Sarah Connor. He located her at a nightclub, where he intercepted the Terminator moments before it could kill her. After a harrowing escape, Reese explained Sarah’s importance and the dystopian future ruled by Skynet. Despite her initial skepticism, Sarah was forced to accept the truth after witnessing the Terminator’s relentless pursuit firsthand.

Following a high-speed chase, Reese and Sarah were captured by the police. Dr. Peter Silberman, a criminal psychiatrist, dismissed Reese’s story as delusional paranoia. However, when the Terminator launched a brutal assault on the police station, Reese escaped with Sarah, further proving his claims.

Having grown up in a world ravaged by machines, Reese was hardened both physically and mentally. His body bore numerous scars from battles against Skynet, and the trauma of war left him plagued by nightmares. In one dream, he fought alongside his fellow soldiers, destroying an HK-Tank before finding himself trapped in a burning vehicle. In another, he sought refuge in a Resistance bunker, where he treasured a Polaroid of Sarah. The moment was shattered when a Terminator infiltrated the hideout, massacring everyone inside. As Reese lay injured on the ground, he could only watch as Sarah’s photo burned away—a haunting premonition of the future.

Despite his hardened nature, Reese developed deep feelings for Sarah, fueled by his years of devotion to the legend of John Connor’s mother. Their time together led to an intimate connection, ensuring John’s conception and fulfilling the paradox of his existence. In a final confrontation, Reese and Sarah fought the Terminator in an industrial factory. Though he managed to disable it with a pipe bomb, Reese was mortally wounded in the process. His sacrifice allowed Sarah to destroy the Terminator completely, ensuring John Connor’s birth and the survival of the Resistance.

Kyle Reese’s legacy lived on through John Connor, who would grow up guided by the memories and teachings of the man who both protected his mother and became his father.

In a deleted scene, Reese tries to dissuade Sarah from attacking Cyberdyne Systems but experiences something he never imagined—the world before the War Against the Machines. He sees trees, streams, and flowers, all untouched by destruction, and describes it as a dream. Overcome with emotion, he breaks down in tears, admitting that it hurts because he was never meant to witness such beauty. Moved by the moment, he ultimately agrees with Sarah that they must try to change the future.

Despite being battle-hardened and weary, Reese harbored deep feelings for Sarah long before they met, having only known her through a single photograph given to him by John Connor. His devotion was built on the legend of her resilience, inspiring his unwavering determination to protect her. Initially distrustful of Reese, Sarah gradually comes to rely on him as he proves to be her sole protector against the relentless Terminator. Their bond deepens, and during their time on the run, they share a night of passion, leading to the conception of John Connor, the future leader of the Resistance.

However, their fight for survival reaches a tragic climax when they are forced into a final confrontation with the Terminator. During a desperate escape, the Terminator pursues them first on a motorcycle and later in a semi-truck. Reese is wounded by gunfire, but they manage to destroy the truck—only to watch in horror as the Terminator emerges from the wreckage, its human disguise burned away, revealing its skeletal metal frame. Fleeing into an automated factory—later revealed to be owned by Cyberdyne Systems—they attempt to use the machinery as cover while the Terminator relentlessly hunts them down.

As they try to evade detection, Sarah accidentally activates a machine, revealing their position. The Terminator finds them, and Reese, determined to protect Sarah to the end, orders her to run while he fights it off with a metal rod. The Terminator easily overpowers him, knocking him to the ground. In a final act of defiance, Reese ignites a pipe bomb and lodges it into the machine’s abdomen before throwing himself down a staircase just as the explosion detonates.

When the smoke clears, Sarah, injured but alive, crawls toward Reese and pulls a piece of shrapnel from her leg. With trembling hands, she reaches for him—only to find him motionless. He has succumbed to his wounds, sacrificing himself to ensure Sarah’s survival and, ultimately, the future of humanity.

Sarah grieves for Reese but has little time to mourn as the still-active upper half of the Terminator begins crawling after her. Injured and barely able to move, she desperately drags herself away, luring the relentless machine beneath a massive hydraulic press—the very one she accidentally activated earlier, alerting the Terminator to their location. As it closes in, Sarah manages to trigger the press, crushing the cyborg in a moment of poetic irony.

Later, she watches through tear-filled eyes as Reese's lifeless body is zipped into a bag and taken away. Though he never knew that Sarah was carrying his child—his own future commander—his bravery and sacrifice give her the strength to prepare their son for the war that awaits him.

By fathering John, Kyle unwittingly creates a predestination paradox, mirroring how the discovery of the Terminator's remains in the factory would ultimately lead to the birth of Skynet.

T2 Trilogy Timeline

Kyle Reese and his mother, Mary Shea, were captured by the Luddite Patrol A-36, led by Sam Marshall AS-783490, and taken to a Century Work Camp where they were forced into slavery. Three years later, John Connor, along with Dennis Reese, led an assault on the Luddite extermination camp to rescue those held captive. Tragically, during the attack, Mary and her husband were killed by a Terminator. As the smoke cleared, John Connor appeared and told Kyle, “Come with me if you want to live.” (T2: Future War)

T2 Saga Timeline

In this timeline, Kyle is an orphan who speaks very little. He witnesses John sewing Uncle Bob’s scar. (Terminator: Infinity)

Kyle is later adopted by John Connor and Tara Holden. Although he is encouraged to fight, Tara forbids him from doing so, though the reasons for this remain undisclosed. (Issue #1) Kyle inadvertently travels back to 1996 during a battle with the Dire Wolf. (Issue #4) In the same issue, Kyle helps John, Sarah, and young John Connor destroy the Dire Wolf.

Later, Kyle and John travel back to 2015 using the remains of the T-Infinity. After the war, Kyle starts his own family in 2032. (Issue #5)

Terminator Salvation

In 2018, sixteen-year-old Kyle Reese is identified as Skynet’s top priority target, while John Connor actively searches for him to ensure his protection.

Living in post-Judgment-Day Los Angeles, Kyle has formed a close bond with Star, a young mute girl, with whom he communicates using hand signals. Shortly after the activation of Marcus Wright, Kyle rescues him from a Series 600 Terminator near an abandoned toy factory, destroying the machine in the process. The two quickly form a working relationship, with Marcus teaching Kyle survival tactics. Though not officially part of the Resistance, Kyle considers himself and Star to be the Resistance’s Los Angeles Branch, despite General Ashdown classifying him as a civilian.

After spending the night at Griffith Observatory, Kyle, Star, and Marcus set out in a jeep to locate John Connor. Along the way, a Skynet probe scans Kyle’s face, marking him as a target. They make a brief stop at a seemingly abandoned 7-Eleven in the desert, only to encounter a group of survivors led by a woman named Virginia. Their respite is short-lived when a Harvester attacks. Despite Kyle’s efforts to destroy the Moto-Terminators pursuing them, he and Star are ultimately captured and transported to Skynet Central. During the journey, Kyle remains vigilant, rallying the other prisoners and searching for anything that could be used as a weapon.

Upon arrival, Skynet immediately identifies Kyle and separates him from the other captives, sending him to an execution chamber. Using his quick thinking, he manages to evade the Series 600 Terminator assigned to guard him and reunites with Star. Moments later, he meets John Connor for the first time, only for them to come under attack by the T-RIP, a prototype Series 800 Terminator programmed to kill Connor. They flee into the Terminator factory, where Kyle assists John in assembling an explosive device capable of destroying the facility along with the machines. The Resistance arrives just in time, extracting Kyle, John, and the rest of the team before the base is destroyed.

Back at a Resistance outpost, Kyle watches as John, gravely wounded from the battle, prepares for a life-saving heart transplant using Marcus Wright’s donated heart. After Marcus’ burial, Kyle discovers a snapshot of Sarah Connor tucked inside John’s jacket, solidifying his connection to the mission ahead.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles Timeline

Kyle Reese was born in 2002 and lived a relatively normal childhood with his older brother, Derek, until Judgment Day struck on Holy Thursday, April 21, 2011. The two brothers witnessed the nuclear devastation firsthand while playing in their yard. Acting quickly, Derek led Kyle underground to shelter before the counterstrike began. In the harsh years that followed, survival became their priority. At one point, they hunted and killed a deer for food, but Kyle was deeply affected by the animal’s death, prompting Derek to bury it at his request.

By 2015, Kyle was imprisoned at Century Work Camp alongside John Connor. The two escaped in 2021, and Kyle soon became known within the Resistance for his leadership skills. While serving as a Corporal, he carried the injured Martin Bedell on his back to a medical station after a brutal encounter with one of Skynet’s advanced war machines, the Ogre.

In 2027, John Connor sent Kyle back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor, ensuring both his own existence and that of his mother. After Kyle’s death, he was buried in a soldier’s grave, marked only with the inscription "1984." His brother, Derek, was later sent back to 2007 by the Resistance to assist in other temporal missions, ultimately protecting a teenage John Connor.

Following her injury in a previous episode, Sarah Connor wakes up in a hospital, unidentified by the staff. She has a vision of Kyle Reese, who urges her to escape. Using a clever ruse, she fakes a break through the window, luring the officer inside before knocking him unconscious. Despite her injuries, she limps out of the hospital and contacts Derek, instructing him to dispose of the car she used and erase any traces left behind.

In the hospital parking lot, Sarah abducts Dr. Felicia Burnett, a physician, and forces her to assist with removing the bullet lodged in her body. Initially skeptical, Felicia softens as she listens to Sarah’s cryptic explanation about her son, a relentless pursuer, and the father of her child. Misinterpreting the situation as Sarah fleeing from an abusive husband, Felicia agrees to help. However, the bullet is dangerously close to an artery, forcing her to abort the procedure. If she made a mistake, Sarah would die in minutes.

As Sarah drifts in and out of consciousness, she has another vision of Kyle and murmurs his name. When Felicia asks who he is, Sarah truthfully responds that he was John's father. The doctor insists Sarah needs proper medical treatment, but Kyle’s hallucination convinces her that Felicia is trustworthy—she had the perfect opportunity to betray Sarah but didn't. The two women sneak into a morgue, where Felicia gathers the necessary equipment for a safer, more precise surgery. While preparing, Sarah calls Derek for an update.

In another vision, Kyle takes Sarah to a scorched wasteland, showing her a charred tree that once stood in an orchard destroyed by Skynet. He reminisces about how the air once smelled like apple pie and how he and Derek used the tree as a marker to exchange messages. Kneeling down, he unearths an old army-issue box and pulls out the snapshot of Sarah he once carried into the past. He reassures her of his love, telling her to trust Felicia and that he will always be with her.

When Sarah regains full consciousness, Derek is by her side. She briefly mistakes him for Kyle, calling him “Reese.” Felicia, having overheard, assumes Derek is the man Sarah spoke of earlier. Skeptical, she questions whether anything Sarah told her was true. Sarah simply responds, “I got shot.”

Alternative Timeline

In an alternate future, John Connor traveled through time with Catherine Weaver to a version of events where he never became a leader in the Resistance due to his disappearance for two decades. Upon arrival, he encountered Kyle and Derek Reese, as well as Allison Young. However, in this timeline, none of them recognized his name.

Terminator Genisys Timeline

In the Terminator Genisys timeline, Kyle Reese was born after Judgment Day and spent his early years surviving in the ruins of the old world. His parents taught him basic survival skills and shared stories of life before the catastrophe, but they were eventually killed, leaving Kyle to fend for himself.

Much of his childhood was spent evading Skynet's relentless Hunter-Killers. At one point, while hiding in a sewer, he was spotted by an Infiltrator and nearly killed, but John Connor arrived in time to destroy the Terminator, saving Kyle’s life. This was the moment Kyle realized that Terminators could be defeated.

Kyle later joined the Resistance’s Tech-Com unit under John's command, where the two developed a close friendship. Beyond their roles as soldiers, they bonded over small moments, such as their failed attempt to distill alcohol, which resulted in an explosion. At one point, John gave Kyle a snapshot of his mother, Sarah Connor.

Before Operation Chrono, John selected Kyle for a mission to take down a critical Skynet prison camp—one even more strategically important than the complex in Colorado. John admitted that if he had a choice, he wouldn’t have asked Kyle to take part in such a dangerous operation.

When Skynet was finally defeated, the Resistance uncovered its last-ditch plan: sending a Terminator back to assassinate Sarah Connor in 1984. Many soldiers volunteered to go back in time to protect her, but Kyle was ultimately chosen for the mission. Just before departure, Kyle asked John how he always seemed to know so much, to which John cryptically replied, "Because I cheated." However, as Kyle was stepping into the time displacement field, John was ambushed by Skynet, which had infiltrated the Resistance under the guise of a Tech-Com soldier named Alex. This attack triggered new memories in Kyle’s mind—fragments from an alternate timeline.

1984

After arriving in Los Angeles, Kyle was almost immediately targeted by a T-1000 disguised as a police officer. During the attack, he encountered Officer O'Brien and his partner, but the T-1000 killed O'Brien’s partner before Kyle managed to save O'Brien’s life. Just as the situation turned dire, Sarah Connor intervened—saving Kyle instead of the other way around.

Kyle was stunned. Sarah, whom he was supposed to protect, already knew who he was. Even more shocking, she had been preparing for his arrival for over a decade, and she wasn’t alone. With her was “Pops,” a reprogrammed T-800 Model 101. Unaware of these changes to the timeline, Kyle reacted with hostility toward Pops and attacked, but the Terminator quickly incapacitated him.

Once Kyle regained consciousness, Sarah and Pops explained that an assassination attempt had been made on her when she was just nine years old, altering the course of history. They had been waiting for him ever since.

The T-1000 soon tracked them down, leading to a high-speed chase that ended in an abandoned warehouse. There, the T-1000 impaled Pops with a metal pole, temporarily disabling him, and reactivated the T-800 to attack Kyle. Kyle managed to disable the T-800 again, while Sarah lured the T-1000 into an acid trap. Despite being badly damaged, the T-1000 fought through the acid and nearly strangled her, but Pops broke free just in time, grabbing the T-1000 and holding it under the acid until it was completely dissolved.

In the process, the acid stripped the synthetic flesh from Pops' right arm before Sarah neutralized the acid to prevent further damage. To ensure Skynet couldn’t use the technology for reverse engineering, Pops and Sarah removed the T-800’s CPU and dissolved its body in acid.

Pops and Sarah revealed their plan to Kyle: they intended to use the Time Displacement Equipment they had built to travel to 1997 and stop Judgment Day by preventing Skynet from ever being created. To power the time machine, they needed the T-800’s CPU to function as its operating system. However, because Pops’ synthetic skin had been severely damaged and would take years to regrow, he could not make the trip—his exposed endoskeleton would be destroyed by the magnetic field of the time displacement process. Instead, Pops chose to "take the long way," remaining behind to prepare for their arrival in the future.

While making preparations, Kyle recalled the name "Genisys" from the fragmented memories he gained during his time jump. He shared this information with Sarah and Pops, prompting Pops to explain that Kyle likely experienced an altered timeline due to encountering a nexus point while inside the machine. Convinced that 2017 was now the key date instead of 1997, Sarah decided to adjust their plan. She and Kyle traveled forward to 2017, while Pops remained behind, waiting for them to arrive.

2017

When Kyle and Sarah arrived in 2017, Pops was unable to intercept them immediately because they materialized in midair above a busy freeway, landing in the middle of traffic. Both were arrested and taken into custody. While being processed, they learned about "Genisys," an advanced operating system that was set to go online soon. Kyle recognized the name from his alternate memories, realizing that Genisys was actually Skynet in disguise.

John Connor suddenly appeared at the hospital, seemingly arriving from the past just after Kyle did, and helped them escape. During their reunion, John inadvertently revealed to Kyle that he was, in fact, Kyle’s son.

Before Kyle could fully process this revelation, Pops arrived and immediately shot John. To Sarah and Kyle’s horror, John survived—revealing that he had been transformed into a T-3000, a human-Terminator hybrid, after being infected by Alex, an alternate timeline version of Skynet. With Sarah and Kyle in shock, John attempted to persuade them to join him, but Pops intervened, allowing them to escape. Sarah realized that John was no longer humanity’s last hope—he was now Skynet’s last hope.

Regrouping at a safe house, the trio gathered weapons to destroy Genisys before it could activate. During this time, Kyle confronted Sarah for lying about John’s true parentage. Sarah insisted that she hadn’t lied—John had manipulated Kyle into ensuring his own existence. Kyle confessed that he was in love with Sarah, but she pushed him away, fearing that he would meet the same fate as in the previous timeline.

John soon tracked them down, forcing them to flee in a stolen school bus. A high-speed chase ensued, during which John attempted to kill them, but they managed to survive. However, they were arrested once again. This time, Detective O'Brien, who had encountered them in 1984, recognized them and decided to help. On their way out, they briefly encountered young Kyle Reese, who was frightened by the chaos. Sarah reassured him, telling him to run and not look back.

After a dramatic helicopter chase, the trio arrived at Cyberdyne, where Genisys was being developed. John confronted them once more, nearly succeeding in killing them. However, Pops managed to slow him down by trapping them both inside an electromagnetic field created by a prototype Time Displacement Device. As the two struggled, Sarah and Kyle rigged the building with explosives. At the last moment, Pops was thrown into a vat of Mimetic polyalloy while John was finally destroyed by the electromagnetic field.

With the building moments away from destruction, Sarah and Kyle took cover in a bunker, believing they were about to suffocate due to the lack of air. Just as they neared the point of collapse, Pops—now repaired and upgraded by the Mimetic polyalloy—rescued them.

Afterward, the trio visited young Kyle Reese, ensuring that he understood the danger of Genisys. This completed the loop in Kyle’s fragmented memories, reinforcing his understanding of the altered timeline. Sarah acknowledged that, for the first time, she had the freedom to choose her own path. She and Kyle shared a kiss, signaling that despite everything, she still chose to be with him. With their mission complete, Sarah, Kyle, and Pops drove off together.

Genisys Timeline

In 2017, young Kyle Reese received Genisys as a birthday gift.

During this time, Kyle got into a fight at a multiplex, prompting his parents to take him to the police station as a lesson, where he was fingerprinted. This later caused confusion when his older self from the future was arrested after the incident on the Golden Gate Bridge, as their fingerprints matched. Kyle and his parents were called to the station, where young Kyle noticed that his older self bore a strong resemblance to his father.

Shortly afterward, a T-3000 attacked the police station, forcing the Reese family to evacuate. Sarah Connor intervened to help them escape, giving young Kyle the courage to run to safety.

Following the destruction of Cyberdyne, young Kyle was visited by his future self, who left him with an important message to remember—one that would ultimately help humanity defeat Skynet.

Powers and Statistics

Tier: At least 10-A. 9-B with weapons

Dimensionality: 3D

Powers and Abilities: Peak Human Characteristics, Martial Arts, Acrobatics, Marksmanship, Stealth Mastery, Vehicular Mastery, Explosion Manipulation (via Pipe Bombs)

Attack Potency: At least Athlete level (an athletic and physically fit individual) Wall level with weapons (Capable of harming the T-1000 with weapons )

Speed: Athletic Human travel speed (Is an athletically built person) with Superhuman reactions & combat speed (Can react to attacks from Terminators) and Supersonic attack speed with firearms (1550 ft/s or 472.44 m/s)

Lifting Strength: Above Average Human

Striking Strength: At least Athlete level

Durability: At least Athlete level

Stamina: Peak Human (Can run and fight for long periods)

Range: Tens of Meters to Hundreds of Meters with Guns

Intelligence: Average

Weaknesses: Normal Human Weakness, Suffers from PTSD

Trivia

• Kyle Reese was named after Mary Shea's grandfather.
• His serial number is DN38416.
• He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), often experiencing nightmares of his future. He is easily aggravated, as seen during his police interrogation.
• In the extended edition of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Kyle appears to Sarah Connor in hallucinations during her time at Pescadero State Hospital. In these visions, he remains unchanged from his The Terminator appearance and urges Sarah to protect John, warning that more Terminators are coming and that the future is not set.
• Due to the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Kyle’s history is altered. In contrast to the original timeline, he was born before Judgment Day. His father initially survived but was later killed before the events of the film.
• Marcus Wright taught Kyle how to secure a shotgun to his arm with a cord to prevent losing it, a technique Kyle later demonstrates upon his arrival in 1984.
• Kyle says the iconic line, “Come with me if you want to live,” twice: once in The Terminator and again in Terminator Salvation. A variation of the line appears in Sarah’s dream in The Good Wound. He also hears the phrase from John Connor in T2: Future War and from Sarah Connor in Terminator Genisys.
• Kyle’s appearance from the future scenes in The Terminator was used as inspiration for the cover art of the 1987 Konami game Metal Gear, where Solid Snake resembles him.
• John Connor never revealed to anyone that Kyle was his father—not even to Kyle himself. Instead, he simply gave Kyle a picture of Sarah, leaving him to figure it out. Even when Kyle was captured by Skynet, John told General Ashdown that Kyle was the key to winning the war but refused to explain why, only stating that without him, the war would be lost.
• There exists an “Alpha Timeline” where Kyle Reese is not John Connor’s father at all.
• The Skynet Database: Human Central Archive, featured on the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines DVD, states that Kyle was born in 2008. However, this conflicts with Terminator Salvation, where Kyle appears as a teenager in 2018 instead of a ten-year-old.
• In a deleted scene, Reese is revealed to be ticklish when Sarah playfully tickles him.
• Kyle has appeared in every on-screen Terminator production except for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Dark Fate. His T2 hallucination scene was cut from the theatrical release.
• Michael Biehn portrays Kyle Reese in The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Biehn credits his training for the role as the reason he was later cast as Corporal Dwayne Hicks in Aliens, as it allowed him to skip the Marine training that other actors had to undergo.
• Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally considered for the role of Kyle Reese, but neither he nor James Cameron favored the idea. During a meeting, Schwarzenegger expressed his preference to play the T-800, convincing Cameron to cast him in that role instead.
• In Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Kyle is played by Jonathan Jackson (age 22), Skyler Gisondo (age 8), and an unknown actor (age 5).

• Anton Yelchin portrays a 16-year-old Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation.