John Connor

John Connor, the son of Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, is the leader of the worldwide human Resistance and the more specialized Tech-Com unit during the War Against the Machines. Skynet, the AI responsible for the machine uprising, identifies John as the key figure of the human rebellion. Believing that his death would end the resistance, Skynet repeatedly attempts to eliminate him during the war. After failing, it resorts to time travel, sending Terminators to various points in the past to kill him before he can rise to power.

Names	Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 Terminator,, T-800 Terminator, Model T-800, T-800, Pop, Carl, Uncle Bob
Epitaph	The Leader of the Resistance
Gender	Male ♂
Race	Human, T-3000 (Terminator Genisys)
Occupation	Resistance Leader
Origin	The Terminator (October 26 1984) (First Mentioned) The Terminator issue 12 "Night Convoy" Sep 1989 (First Appearance)
Alignment	Heroic, Evil (Terminator Genisys)
Age	Varies, 10 (Judgment Day), 13 (Dark Fate) 16 (T2: 3D / Infiltrator) ( TSCC season 1, 1999 / 2007) 16 (2007), 17 (season 2, 2008) 25 (Rise of the Machines) 33 (2018) 47 (lived up to 44, time-travelled back to 2014)
Created By	James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, William Wisher, Jr. Ron Fortier
Height	Varies
Weight	Varies
Personality Type	ISFP, 6w7 (Enneagram)
Portrayed By	Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, Christian Bale, Thomas Dekker. Jason Clarke, Michael Edwards. Dalton Abbott

Appearance and Personality of John Connor Throughout the Franchise

The Terminator (1984) – Mentioned Only

John Connor does not physically appear but is described as the legendary leader of the Resistance who will lead humanity to victory against Skynet. His mother, Sarah Connor, learns about his importance from Kyle Reese, who tells her that John is a brilliant strategist and fearless leader.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) & T2 3-D: Battle Across Time

• Portrayed by: Edward Furlong (young), Michael Edwards (older), Dalton Abbott (infant)
• Appearance: A rebellious 10-year-old with shaggy brown hair, wearing a leather jacket, green military-style clothes, and a Public Enemy T-shirt. His future self (in Sarah’s nightmare) appears as a hardened soldier with a facial scar.
• Personality: At first, he is a troubled delinquent raised by foster parents after Sarah's imprisonment. However, he shows signs of natural leadership, hacking skills, and compassion, particularly in teaching the T-800 the value of human life. As the story progresses, he matures and begins to embrace his destiny as humanity's future savior.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

• Portrayed by: Nick Stahl
• Appearance: A scruffy, more cautious version of John, now in his early 20s, with short, unkempt brown hair.
• Personality: Haunted by Judgment Day's supposed prevention, he lives off the grid and avoids leadership responsibilities. He struggles with self-doubt but eventually steps up when the T-800 informs him that Judgment Day was only delayed, not stopped. Despite his reluctance, he naturally commands people in the final moments before nuclear war begins.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008-2009)

• Portrayed by: Thomas Dekker
• Appearance: A lean, teenage version of John with medium-length dark brown hair and a youthful face.
• Personality: More introspective and vulnerable than his previous incarnations, this John struggles with balancing a normal teenage life with the burden of his future role. He relies heavily on Cameron, a reprogrammed Terminator, and his mother for guidance. Over time, he becomes more independent and willing to make difficult decisions, showing hints of his future tactical genius.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

• Portrayed by: Christian Bale
• Appearance: A battle-hardened resistance fighter in his early 30s, with a short military haircut, stubble, and a scarred face.
• Personality: Unlike previous versions, this John is not yet the full leader of the Resistance but a Tech-Com captain under General Ashdown. He is intensely serious, determined, and driven by his knowledge of the future. He shows unwavering commitment to saving Kyle Reese, knowing Kyle's survival is crucial to his own existence. His leadership qualities emerge as he gains the trust of other fighters, and by the end, he solidifies his role as the Resistance's de facto leader.

Terminator Genisys (2015)

• Portrayed by: Jason Clarke
• Appearance: A rugged, middle-aged Resistance leader with short-cropped hair, facial scars, and a hardened demeanor. Later, as the T-3000, his appearance becomes more synthetic, with a metallic, nanite-infused body capable of regeneration.
• Personality: Initially, he is the iconic, charismatic Resistance leader—brilliant, strategic, and inspirational. However, after being forcibly transformed into the T-3000, he becomes cold, calculating, and manipulative, retaining his human intelligence but fully serving Skynet. His attempts to persuade Sarah and Kyle to join him reflect his belief in technological evolution over human resistance.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

• Portrayed by: Edward Furlong (brief de-aged cameo), Jude Collie (body double)
• Appearance: A slightly older version of his T2 self, with longer hair, resembling Edward Furlong’s 1991 portrayal.
• Personality: He appears only briefly before being assassinated by a rogue T-800. His death deeply affects Sarah Connor, shaping her into a hardened, vengeful warrior dedicated to hunting Terminators.

Overall Character Evolution

John Connor evolves from a reckless, rebellious child into a reluctant but capable leader and, ultimately, humanity's last hope against Skynet. His portrayals vary in personality, from vulnerable and uncertain (T3, Sarah Connor Chronicles) to hardened and battle-ready (Salvation, Genisys). His role as a savior is central to the franchise, but in Dark Fate, his fate is altered, removing him from the timeline and shifting the Resistance’s future to new characters.

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  Various actors as John Connor. Clockwise from top left: Edward Furlong, Nick Stahl, Christian Bale and Thomas Dekker.

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  As a T-3000

Biography

Original Timeline

John Connor was born on February 28, 1985, to Sarah Connor and an initially unnamed father. In 1997, as humanity teetered on the brink of extinction, he united the last survivors, trained them in combat, and led them in storming Skynet’s camps, overcoming Terminator forces. His leadership forged the core of the Resistance.

By 2029, John led the Resistance to final victory against Skynet. In a last-ditch effort to alter history, Skynet sent a T-800 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor and a T-1000 to 1995 to assassinate young John. To counter this, John dispatched Kyle Reese to protect Sarah and reprogrammed a Series 800 Terminator to defend his younger self.

Note: In the video game The Terminator: Dawn of Fate, these events take place in 2027 instead of 2029.

Alternate Timeline

John was born on February 28, 1985. His father, Kyle Reese, was killed in May 1984 while protecting Sarah from a Terminator. Raised off the grid, John underwent rigorous training in weapons, computer technology, and espionage, preparing for the war to come.

In the early 1990s, Sarah was arrested and institutionalized after attempting to destroy a computer factory. John, placed into foster care, struggled with suburban life, rebelling and accumulating a criminal record that included trespassing, shoplifting, and vandalism. His foster parents, Todd and Janelle Voight, found him difficult to manage.

John's life changed abruptly when a T-1000 was sent from 2029 to assassinate him. A reprogrammed T-800, whom John later nicknamed "Uncle Bob," was also sent back to protect him. After reuniting with Sarah, John used the T-800 to break her out of Pescadero State Hospital. Together, they sought out Miles Dyson, the lead researcher on Cyberdyne’s neural-net processor, in an effort to prevent Judgment Day.

During their journey, John bonded with the T-800, seeing it as a surrogate father figure. After destroying the T-1000 and Cyberdyne’s research, the T-800 requested its own destruction to erase all traces of its technology, ensuring Skynet would never be created.

Deviating Timelines

Following Terminator 2: Judgment Day, multiple timelines emerge:

• T2 Trilogy
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
• Terminator: Dark Fate
• A timeline where Judgment Day never occurs

Alternate Future

With Cyberdyne’s research destroyed, Skynet never comes into existence, and Judgment Day is averted. By 2027, John Connor has become a U.S. Senator and has a child, living in a future free from the machine war.

Battle Across Time

After the destruction of the Cyberdyne building, John Connor and his mother, Sarah Connor, went into hiding to evade both law enforcement and potential assassins sent by Skynet from the future.

Some time later, Sarah and John Connor discovered that Cyberdyne Systems was still developing Skynet. Determined to stop its progress, they infiltrated a presentation hosted by Kimberley Duncan for investors. However, a T-1000, having tracked John down, killed Duncan and attempted to assassinate him. Just as the situation turned dire, a T-800 suddenly emerged from a time portal, saving John and delivering the familiar line: "I said I'd be back. Come with me if you want to live." Sarah urged John to follow the T-800, which then took him through the time portal to the future.

The T-1000 pursued them through the portal, relentlessly hunting John. During the chase, the T-800 managed to land a precise shot to the T-1000’s head, temporarily disabling it and leaving it behind. The T-800 then informed John that their mission was to reach the Skynet Central Core and destroy it.

On their journey, an HK-Aerial detected them and opened fire. A plasma blast struck their bike, forcing them to seek shelter in a ruined building. Unable to locate its targets, the HK deployed four Mini Hunters to search the ruins. The T-800 quickly neutralized three of them before catching the last one and smashing it against a wall. Moments later, a T-800 Endoskeleton attacked, nearly killing John before the reprogrammed T-800 decapitated it by hurling the remains of the last Mini Hunter at its head. The T-800 then retrieved an M-25 Phased Plasma Rifle from the fallen Endo and jokingly told John that the machine was his "college roommate" before tossing the skull aside.

Reaching Skynet’s Central Core just before the gate closed, John and the T-800 entered the facility. Inside, John rigged explosives to destroy the core. However, the surrounding structure revealed itself to be the massive T-1000000, which launched a brutal assault. Using liquid nitrogen, John and the T-800 froze the T-1000000 and shattered it.

With time running out, the T-800 led John to the Time Displacement Equipment. John hesitated, unwilling to leave the T-800 behind, but the machine insisted: "Go! I'll be back!" As John vanished through the portal, the T-800 carried the explosives to the core and detonated them, destroying Skynet in the resulting explosion.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles

August 24, 1999 – November 14, 2007

1.01

Two years after the events of T2, Sarah Connor and her son, John, have settled into a quiet life with Charley Dixon, Sarah’s fiancé. However, the constant threat of discovery forces Sarah to leave Charley behind, despite John’s objections. Reluctantly, John follows his mother to Red Valley, New Mexico, a town he dismisses as a "hick town."

On his first day at school, John meets an attractive girl named Cameron Phillips, who tries to befriend him. However, still bitter about leaving Charley, he remains distant. The next day, a substitute teacher named Cromartie takes attendance and pauses when he reaches John’s name. When John raises his hand, Cromartie suddenly pulls out a gun and fires—hitting Cameron instead.

John bolts out of the classroom, racing toward the parking lot, but Cromartie quickly catches up. Just as Cromartie is about to shoot him, a truck comes out of nowhere, running the Terminator down. The door swings open, revealing Cameron behind the wheel—completely unharmed. "Come with me if you want to live," she tells John. He hesitates only for a moment before jumping into the truck. As they speed away, John realizes Cameron is a Terminator.

Meanwhile, Cromartie captures Sarah and mimics her voice to lure John home. Sensing a trap, John has Cameron disguise herself in a hooded sweatshirt and pose as him. Cromartie falls for the deception and attacks her, only to be disabled by an electrical cable. John, Sarah, and Cameron escape north, stopping at an abandoned warehouse for the night. The next morning, John pleads with Sarah to stop running and take the fight to Skynet. Reluctantly, she agrees.

A failed attempt to visit the Dyson residence ends with Cromartie shooting Sarah. Desperate for medical supplies, John rushes into a nearby 7/11.

The following day, Cameron takes John and Sarah to a bank in Los Angeles, where she instructs the clerk to lock them inside the vault. Inside, she reveals an anti-Terminator weapon and hidden time displacement equipment. As Cameron prepares the TDE, Cromartie arrives and tears through the vault door just as the device activates. Sarah fires the weapon at Cromartie, blasting him apart, seconds before the TDE transports her, John, Cameron, and Cromartie’s endo-skull to 2007.

They materialize—completely naked—in the middle of a busy freeway, much to Sarah and John’s embarrassment. Cameron quickly leads them off the road and into a construction yard, where she beats up a group of teenagers for their clothes and steals a car. The Connors then acquire a house and begin preparing for their new lives.

1.02 – Gnothi Seauton

Three days pass, and John grows restless. Confined to the house until they can secure new identities, he pressures Sarah to track down Enrique Salceda, an old friend and expert in fake documents. While Sarah and Cameron work on acquiring IDs, John defies his mother’s orders and sneaks off to the local mall. Fascinated by the advancements in technology, he uses a demo laptop to look himself up—only to discover that he and Sarah are officially listed as dead. While searching further, he finds out that Charley Dixon is living in Los Angeles. Before he can process this, a store clerk points out that his search history is visible on a large screen behind him, prompting John to flee.

Determined to see Charley, John breaks into his house and finds photos of him happily married. Charley arrives home and is stunned to see John looking exactly as he did in 1999. Although Charley only wants to talk, John panics, incapacitates him, and runs. He barely makes it home before Sarah and Cameron return, revealing that they need $20,000 for the fake IDs.

Cameron takes them to a Resistance safe house, where John finds a hidden safe behind a "Hang in there, baby" kitten poster. Cameron attempts to open it but is knocked out by an electrical trap. John correctly guesses the combination, empties the contents, and they flee just as a T-888 arrives.

Back home, John sorts through the safe’s contents and finds a bag of diamonds. He hands one to Cameron with a smirk, remarking, "Diamonds are a girl’s best friend." With the money secured, John obtains a new identity and enrolls in school as John Baum.

1.03

On his first morning at school, John brings Sarah coffee and discusses possible Skynet progenitors. Their conversation is interrupted when Cameron casually walks by in her underwear, leaving John flustered. By the time he enters the kitchen, she’s fully dressed, effortlessly applying eyeliner. John sarcastically comments on her precision, likening it to brain surgery.

Upon arriving at school, John reminds Cameron to act like his sister and avoid drawing attention. When she repeatedly sets off the metal detector, he quickly covers for her, telling the security guard she has a metal plate in her head.

In chemistry class, John meets an attractive girl and begins chatting with her, but Cameron transfers into his class and hovers over him. Annoyed, John orders her to sit down.

The next day, John witnesses a girl attempting to jump off the roof of the school. He rushes to stop her, but Cameron blocks his path, telling him he cannot interfere. Helpless, he watches as the girl jumps to her death. Wracked with guilt, John angrily questions the point of being a hero if he isn’t allowed to save lives in the present.

1.04

Upon learning that Cromartie is still alive, John persuades Sarah and Cameron to track him down. Their search leads them to a warehouse at the L.A. docks, where a shipment of coltan—an essential component of Terminator endoskeletons—is being prepared for delivery. Cameron identifies one of the workers as a T-888 named Carter, but since it isn’t Cromartie, Sarah refuses John’s plan to sabotage the shipment. Despite Cameron’s warning that the volume of coltan could produce over 500 endoskeletons, Sarah remains firm. Frustrated, John sneaks inside and plants his cell phone in the truck to track its movement, only to be accidentally locked inside when the crew secures the shipment and departs.

As the truck heads for a military bunker known as Depot 37, John incapacitates one of the workers, Mike, and attempts to pick the lock on the truck’s doors but is unable to remove the outer padlock. When they arrive, John hides behind a large stack of coltan as the crew opens the truck. Unaware of John’s presence, they assume Mike abandoned the job and move on. Watching from the shadows, John witnesses Carter execute the crew before sealing the bunker’s blast doors and shutting down into standby mode. Moments later, Mike regains consciousness and holds John at gunpoint. John convinces him that Carter murdered the crew, but the panicked worker unknowingly reactivates the Terminator, sealing his own fate.

As Carter powers down again, John carefully searches the bunker and finds a working phone. He contacts Sarah, who is on the other side of the blast doors with Cameron. She tells him to open the doors and run, but the key to the interface hangs around Carter’s neck. John manages to retrieve it without waking the T-888 and unlocks the doors. He jumps into the truck, but his inexperience with a stick shift stalls his escape. He eventually gets the hang of it and drives over Carter, while Cameron locks the blast doors behind them, trapping the Terminator inside. She then drives the truck into the ocean to dispose of the coltan. Back home, John attempts to finish his homework, but as he reaches for a pencil, his hand trembles—a sign of the trauma he endured.

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1.05

While finishing his homework, John marvels at Cameron’s mathematical skills and asks her to complete his assignment. She agrees without hesitation. Sarah then informs him about a new AI system, the “Turk,” developed by Andy Goode, and instructs him and Cameron to meet her at a robotics convention after school.

At school, John visits Jordon Cowan’s memorial and explains to Cameron why people leave messages for the deceased. He also tries to talk to Cheri, his chemistry lab partner, but she remains distant. Later, during auto shop class, John helps a student named Morris settle an argument over a piece of equipment. The two quickly become friends. When Morris notices John with Cheri, he warns him to stay away, explaining that her father keeps a strict watch over her.

At the convention, John and Sarah observe a chess match between the Turk and a Japanese AI. Displaying his knowledge of chess history, John explains why the Turk ultimately loses. The next day, he hacks into the LAPD database and discovers the identity of Andy Goode’s killer—a man Cameron confirms is a Resistance fighter.

During lunch, John discusses grief with Cameron while catching up on math homework. After school, he attempts to talk to Cheri again but is once more rebuffed. He then introduces Cameron to Morris, who is instantly smitten with her. Amused but cautious, John warns Morris to be careful around her.

Later, Sarah and Cameron take John on a mission. They intercept a police van to rescue the Resistance fighter, but a T-888 arrives, attacking Cameron. John tries to assist her, but Sarah holds him back, firing multiple rounds at the Terminator. The T-888 seizes Cameron’s gun and shoots the Resistance fighter before Cameron disables it. With John’s help, she removes the Terminator’s CPU.

Back at their house, they realize the Resistance fighter’s injuries are beyond Cameron’s medical capabilities. Knowing he needs immediate care, Sarah plans to abduct a doctor. When John questions her decision, she reveals the fighter’s identity—Derek Reese, Kyle Reese’s brother and John’s paternal uncle. Overwhelmed, John runs out and returns with Charley Dixon, who successfully revives Derek and removes the bullet.

1.06

While Charley tends to Derek, John paces anxiously in the next room, refusing Cameron’s offer of a sedative. Curious about his uncle, he asks Cameron what she knows about Derek and Kyle, but she provides only a clinical rundown of their military careers. Once Derek is stabilized, Charley is fully briefed on the machines and the future. Later, John brings him a beer and apologizes for dragging him into their chaotic lives.

When Derek’s lung collapses, Charley informs them that he needs a blood transfusion. John offers to be tested, and his blood turns out to be a match. During the transfusion, Derek, delirious from pain, lashes out and calls for Kyle, demanding answers about his brother’s fate. This deeply unsettles John, who is confronted with the consequences of his own decision to send Kyle back in time.

After Charley leaves, John and Sarah console each other, both emotionally drained from the day’s events. Later, John sits with Derek and finally tells him about Kyle’s death, nearly revealing their family connection but instead choosing to refer to Kyle as a hero.

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1.07

The next morning, John finds Derek in Sarah’s room, cleaning their stash of weapons. When Derek inquires about Charley, John assures him that he can be trusted. Their conversation turns tense when Derek questions John's trust in Cameron. Before it escalates, Sarah arrives and asks John to find an address.

While searching, John stumbles upon an old tape from Pescadero. Taking it to his room, he plays it on his VCR and listens through headphones. The recording is of Sarah relinquishing her parental rights, and as he watches, tears well up in his eyes.

The next day, John hands Sarah the address but leaves the house without eating breakfast. At school, he ignores her calls. When he finally returns home, he opens up to Derek about his life in foster care while Sarah was in Pescadero, recalling Todd and Janelle Voight and admitting his role in their deaths. Derek, in turn, tells him that being locked away can change a person, a sentiment that lingers in John's mind.

Later, Sarah confesses that after signing away her parental rights, she resolved to escape and find him. Understanding her pain, John reconciles with her. Together, they destroy the last remaining part of the disabled T-888.

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1.08

Some time later, Derek discovers the T-888’s CPU hidden in Cameron’s room and presents it to John and Sarah. He immediately accuses Cameron of betrayal, but John defends her as she explains that the CPU contains valuable information.

To access its data, they visit a contact to acquire the necessary equipment. During the trip, Cameron casually reveals to John that she is capable of lying whenever she chooses. As they hack into the CPU, they uncover that the T-888, under the alias "Vick Chamberlain," was married to a woman named Barbara, who had been developing a traffic light surveillance system called A.R.T.I.E. They also learn that "Vick" had assassinated anti-technology activist Jessica Peck. Determined to find her body, John joins Sarah, Derek, and Cameron in their search.

The next day at school, John continues working on the CPU while Morris shares a story with Cameron about his first tattoo. Later, John manages to arrange a study date with Cheri. However, he is soon confronted by Cameron, who unexpectedly pins him against a wall before letting him go without explanation. Morris later reveals that Cameron impersonated John to throw off an FBI agent searching for him.

That night, John is startled when Cameron suddenly appears in his room, sitting on his bed. She admits that the agent was, in fact, Cromartie. Though she assures him that Cromartie has already searched the school and won’t return, John makes her promise not to tell Sarah. When his mother enters the room moments later, Cameron quietly leaves, winking at John as she passes.

John devises a virus to disable the A.R.T.I.E. system. While Sarah and Derek attempt to take down the system on their end, John inadvertently activates Vick’s higher functions, giving the Terminator an opportunity to escape into the internet. Fortunately, he and Cameron manage to sever the connection just in time. Sarah and Derek return, having failed their mission, prompting John to suggest a new plan—removing Cameron’s CPU and inserting it into a traffic light to override and destroy A.R.T.I.E.

Once the mission is complete, Derek holds onto Cameron’s CPU and warns John that a Terminator will kill him one day. Undeterred, John takes the chip back, asserting, "Not this one." He carefully reinstalls Cameron’s CPU and gently strokes her hair until she reactivates. When he asks what she saw while connected to A.R.T.I.E., she responds with a single, ominous phrase: "I saw everything."

1.09

The Connors’ search for the ‘Turk’ leads them to an internet café, where Sarah and Cameron plan to meet with a man named Sarkissian while John and Derek wait outside in the car. As they wait, John speculates about how a chess computer could trigger the apocalypse, prompting Derek to recount how he and Kyle survived the nuclear bombardment.

During a school field trip to the science museum, John confides in Cameron, believing that Sarah has forgotten his birthday. He jokingly muses that Cameron must have a "builtday" instead. When Cameron suddenly disappears, John and Morris search for her, eventually finding her stuffing a dead man into the trunk of a car. Unfazed, Morris asks Cameron to prom. She takes a moment to consider until John nudges her to say "yes."

Back home, John and Cameron reveal the dead man to Sarah and Derek, who recognize him as one of Sarkissian’s thugs. Sarah and Derek suggest they run and hide, but John refuses. Before they can argue further, Chola, Carlos’ lookout, arrives and drives them to the internet café where Sarkissian operates.

Inside, Sarkissian locks himself in his office while Cameron literally punches through the wall. Meanwhile, John searches the nearby rooms for the ‘Turk’ and stumbles upon a young girl. He gently tells her to stay put no matter what she hears. As he picks the lock to another office, Sarkissian sneaks up behind him and takes him hostage. Outside in the alley, Sarah catches up, leading to a tense standoff—until Derek arrives and unhesitatingly shoots Sarkissian in the head. Clearly shaken by Derek’s ruthlessness, John clings to his mother.

On the morning of his birthday, John begins decrypting Sarkissian’s hard drive. Midway through, Derek approaches and surprises John by acknowledging the occasion, revealing that he once celebrated his 30th birthday with him in the future. To mark the day, Derek takes John out for ice cream. They sit in a park, watching two boys play baseball.

When the ball rolls near John, the younger of the two runs over to retrieve it. John hands it back, and the boy grins before running to his older brother, who has "Reese" printed on his t-shirt. Realization dawns on John—he’s looking at a young Kyle Reese. Overwhelmed, John gazes at his 5-year-old father with tearful eyes. Derek, watching the moment unfold, simply says, "Happy birthday."

Later, back at home, John continues decrypting the hard drive. Before he can finish, Sarah interrupts, wanting to celebrate his birthday properly. She sends Cameron out to get a cake. As John prepares to shut down the computer, he notices something troubling—Sarkissian’s passport, revealing that the man Derek killed was an impostor.

Before he can react, a sudden explosion rocks the house. John jumps to his feet, alarmed.

November 14th, 2007 Onwards

2.01

In the aftermath of the explosion, John and Sarah rush to the front door, but Sarah is immediately knocked to the ground by one of Sarkissian’s henchmen. John pivots through the kitchen, attempting to escape through the back door, only to find himself at gunpoint—Sarkissian himself has him cornered. Both John and Sarah are tied up and dragged upstairs, where Sarkissian interrogates them while his thug searches for the hard drive. When Sarah refuses to talk, Sarkissian viciously beats her, and John watches, hatred burning in his eyes as he struggles desperately against his restraints.

Noticing John’s attempts to free himself, Sarkissian delivers a brutal kick to his ribs before turning back to Sarah, this time wrapping his hands around her throat. Fueled by desperation, John manages to cut his bonds on a radiator and lunges at Sarkissian, strangling him with a ferocity that ends in his death. As Sarah frees herself, John stands there, breathless and shaken, only to be hit with another shock—Cameron arrives. John’s relief is short-lived, however, as she suddenly raises her gun at him, poised to shoot. Before she can pull the trigger, a massive explosion rips through the stairwell, sending her sprawling and giving John and Sarah the chance to escape through the window.

Stealing a car, they speed away from the scene. John, visibly shaken, refuses to respond to Sarah’s questions. Distracted, Sarah accidentally crashes into another vehicle. They scramble out, revealing John’s leg bleeding heavily, and flee down the street. Wandering aimlessly for a while, they eventually find refuge in a small church, where a reverend offers them sanctuary. When Sarah suggests they destroy Cameron, John snaps, violently rejecting the idea.

Knowing Cameron will eventually track them down, John sets a trap. He rigs a radio in the holy water basin, electrifying it just as Cameron reaches for it. The blast knocks her out for precisely 120 seconds—just enough time for John to try and remove her chip. But his efforts are thwarted by something so simple yet infuriating: he has the wrong-sized screwdriver. Before he can try again, Cameron reboots, forcing John and Sarah to flee once more, stealing another car with Cameron relentlessly pursuing them.

As they speed through a levee tunnel, their worst fears are realized—Cameron is waiting for them up ahead. In one swift move, she overturns their car, sending them tumbling. John groggily regains consciousness, panic setting in when Sarah doesn’t immediately respond. Then, he sees Cameron limping toward them. Sarah, despite her injuries, orders John to run. He hesitates, unwilling to leave her, but obeys, limping toward a nearby warehouse as Cameron captures Sarah’s screams behind him.

Inside the warehouse, John scrambles to hotwire a truck while Cameron methodically searches for him. The sound of the engine roaring to life betrays his position, and he barely ducks in time to avoid a wrench hurled at him. Just as he attempts to escape, Sarah arrives in another car and slams into Cameron, pinning her between the two vehicles. Seizing the moment, John climbs onto the hood, smashes through the windshield, and reaches for her chip. Cameron, immobilized, pleads with him—insisting she’s good, begging him not to do it.

John hesitates. He finally removes the shielded tab, but then Cameron starts crying, her voice trembling as she proclaims her love for him. Despite the moment's intensity, John pulls the chip out, silencing her. A sigh of relief escapes him as Cameron goes inert.

Later, Charley patches up John’s injuries while Derek warns him that Terminators are nothing more than harbingers of death. John, however, remains steadfast—Cameron saved his life before and, in his mind, always will. Sarah convinces him to abandon any thoughts of repairing Cameron, and together, they take her to a remote location, preparing to destroy her with thermite.

On the way, Sarah reminds John that machines cannot feel—especially not love. John responds simply, "I know," all the while carefully cleaning Cameron’s chip. As he prepares to ignite the thermite, something shifts in him. At the last moment, he makes a fateful decision—he re-inserts her chip, despite the risks.

Derek moves to stop him, but John pulls a gun on him—and on Sarah and Charley, too—before turning the weapon on Cameron herself.

He asks her one question: "Are you going to kill me?"

Instead of answering, Cameron takes the gun from him—then calmly hands it back. "No," she promises.

John, convinced, helps her out of the burnt-out car, then tosses the gun to Sarah before finally setting the car ablaze.

Back at the church, John cuts his hair while listening to his mother’s quiet apology—an acknowledgment that she couldn’t protect him from the trauma he has endured.

The next day, John checks in on Cameron, only to be met with an unsettling response—his actions from the previous day have made him untrustworthy in her eyes. Uncertain how to process this, he grows even more frustrated when Sarah suggests he go to school and have a "boring" day.

At school, John retrieves some books from his locker, but he feels disconnected from everything around him. As he watches several couples interact, he briefly wonders if Cameron is on his mind more than he realizes. Unable to focus, he skips class and sits outside, lost in his thoughts. Eventually, a girl named Riley approaches him, commenting on his absence before convincing him to join her for tacos at a food truck.

As they eat, Riley shares stories about her old school, from which she was expelled after getting a star tattoo on her right arm. She notices John's cuts and asks about them. John half-lies, claiming he got them in an accident while teaching his sister to drive. Wanting to extend the moment, he invites her over to his house, only to be shocked when he discovers Sarah has assigned him a cramped nursery as his bedroom.

Later, when Sarah, Derek, and Cameron return home, Sarah pulls John aside, displeased that he brought Riley over. John argues that he has a right to live his own life. Ignoring his mother's concerns, he takes Riley upstairs, where they lie on his bed and talk about the future.

The next morning, John wakes to find Riley building him a small toy robot out of LEGO. He expresses his desire to skip school again and programs his number into her phone, instructing her to say the date and month whenever she calls—a safety code to confirm it’s really her. Later that day, Cameron confronts John, suspecting Riley may be a threat. Remembering her warning at the church, John retorts that he doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone, least of all her.

2.03

As a favor to their pregnant landlady, John fixes her TV and even hooks her up with free cable, inadvertently stumbling upon one of George Laszlo's movies. When Sarah warns him not to get Kacy into trouble, John jokes that network TV is bad for the baby. Sarah counters that he knows nothing about children, to which John pointedly responds that children grow up—a clear nod to his recent defiance.

Soon after, John receives a call from Charley, asking to speak with Sarah. Once the conversation ends, Sarah berates John for giving Charley his number.

While Sarah and Derek leave on a mission to rescue Charley’s wife, John and Cameron head to the mall to buy a new computer. Midway through their errand, Riley calls, asking John to meet her at the Promenade. Cameron refuses to let him go, citing Sarah’s orders to keep him in her sight at all times. Undeterred, John manages to slip away and meet Riley, but he soon spots Cameron watching them from a distance. Frustrated, he and Riley take off running.

At a clothing store, Riley tries on various dresses, hoping to impress John, but he’s distracted when Sarah calls, reminding him to stay close to Cameron. Moments later, he receives another call—this time, Sarah instructs him to meet her at the pier. Forced to cancel his movie plans with Riley, he inadvertently upsets her. She accuses him of being afraid of his mother, and John, irritated, promises to call her later before heading off.

At the pier, John quickly realizes something is wrong—he spots Cromartie. Thinking fast, he grabs a hat and sunglasses to disguise himself, but the Terminator sees through his attempt. With no choice but to run, John weaves through the crowd, eventually finding himself cornered among a group of fishermen.

In a desperate move, he hands his jacket, sunglasses, and hat to one of the fishermen, tricking Cromartie into attacking the wrong person. The distraction gives John just enough time to break cover and sprint away, but with nowhere left to run, he’s forced to dive into the sea.

Cromartie follows, dragging John down to the ocean floor. Struggling against the machine’s grip, John barely manages to free himself and fight his way to the surface—only to find Cameron waiting on the dock. He calls for help, but she simply states, "I can’t swim."

Later, John reunites with Sarah and Derek, discovering blood in the stolen van they’re using. The blood belongs to Michelle Dixon, who was caught in one of Cromartie’s traps. She is rushed to the hospital, but despite efforts to save her, she succumbs to her injuries.

John finds Charley at the hospital, overwhelmed with grief, and offers him what little comfort he can. That night, back home, John, Sarah, and Derek sit in heavy silence around the dining table, mourning Michelle’s death. Meanwhile, Cameron remains as expressionless as ever—an outsider in their grief.

2.04

John dropped Cameron off at the grocery store, promising to pick her up in 30 minutes. However, when he returned, he discovered that something had gone wrong—Cameron had been arrested. Reluctantly, he headed to the police station to ask about her, only to be informed by the desk officer that she had already been released. She was last seen leaving with a girl named Jody.

Determined to find her, John scoured the streets, stopping random people to ask if they knew Jody. His search eventually led him into a rough neighborhood, where he received a call from Sarah, who informed him that she was at the hospital with their landlady, Kacy.

John finally came across someone who knew Jody and learned that she often stayed at a nearby halfway house. When he arrived, he was shocked to find Cameron laughing and playing miniature football with Jody, acting far more human than he had ever seen her before. Startled by her behavior, he waited for Jody to step away before approaching Cameron and urging her to come home. But to his disbelief, Cameron insisted that she was "Allison from Palmdale."

Confused and concerned, John told her the truth—that she was a machine from the future. The revelation visibly disturbed her. When Jody returned, John attempted to play along, introducing himself as Cameron’s "brother." However, Cameron reacted coldly, claiming she had no memory of him and even accusing him of hurting her. Frustrated, John lost patience and tried to force her to leave, but she shoved him against the wall. Security quickly intervened, and John was thrown out of the house.

Left with no choice, John sat in his truck outside, waiting for Cameron to reappear. Eventually, he followed her and Jody to an expensive house. Sensing something was wrong, he burst inside—only to find Jody injured and Cameron standing over her, her memories seemingly restored.

As they drove home, John was furious, demanding an explanation for what had happened. Noticing the necklace she was wearing, he questioned her about it—only to receive a blatant lie in response.

2.05

One morning, Derek shows John and Sarah a news article about the murder of a man named Martin Bedell. He explains that Bedell was a skilled soldier in the future and played a crucial role in teaching John how to organize the Resistance. Realizing that the Terminator will likely target others with the same name, John checks the phone book and finds two more Bedells in the city. He then recalls a message written on their basement wall—"P Alto"—which he identifies as Presidio Alto Military Academy. Determined to protect Bedell, John suggests infiltrating the academy with Derek. Sarah strongly opposes the idea but reluctantly agrees.

John and Derek pack up the Dodge Ram and head out, leaving Sarah and Cameron behind to track down the other Bedell. During the drive, Derek notices John’s silence and asks if he’s worried or just thinking. John says he’s thinking—mainly about where they’ll hide Martin once they find him. Derek dismisses the idea, arguing that putting Bedell in hiding would be as good as killing him in terms of his future impact.

Upon arriving at the academy, John enlists as a recruit while Derek assumes the role of a replacement instructor. At the firing range, John demonstrates his skill with rifles by helping a fellow cadet prepare his weapon, reciting the S-P-O-R-T-S mnemonic (Slap-Pull-Observe-Release-Tap-Shoot) before making a perfect shot. Impressed, the cadet leader introduces himself—it’s Martin Bedell. John later joins him for a run through the woods, where they unexpectedly encounter Derek. Derek discreetly reprimands John for being out in the open, but John brushes it off.

Later, John sits with Martin at lunch and learns that he’s considering leaving the academy to pursue a relationship. John sympathizes, admitting that he understands the urge to walk away from responsibility and avoid looking ahead to an uncertain future.

That evening, Derek finds John again and warns him about making himself vulnerable. John dismisses the idea that fate is unchangeable and assures Derek that he’s taking his safety seriously, pointing out nearby exits and an unlocked car he marked in case of an emergency. The two then retreat into the woods to prepare an ambush for the T-888. While setting traps, John asks about Kyle, prompting Derek to share a story about a time he killed a deer for food—only for Kyle to insist on burying it instead, unwilling to see it as just meat.

During a training march, John subtly tries to make Martin feel guilty about "abandoning" his team, hoping to keep him at the academy. However, Martin remains firm in his decision. Leading the team into the woods, he begins a rescue drill, but Derek interrupts and takes over, instructing the cadets to hide in various locations. As night falls, the T-888 arrives, ignoring the cadets and heading straight into the woods. Derek deliberately draws its attention, leading it into the ambush site where John and Martin wait.

Martin loses his footing and stumbles into the open, catching the Terminator’s attention. Before it can attack, John steps out of hiding and reveals his identity, forcing the machine to shift its focus to him instead. He leads the T-888 across a tar pit and waits on the other side as it follows. Just as it reaches him, Derek fires multiple shots from a .50 caliber sniper rifle, sending the machine tumbling into the pit. As it struggles, Derek delivers a close-range shot to its skull. John then tosses a thermite bomb into the pit, melting the Terminator’s endoskeleton as it sinks beneath the surface. Unbeknownst to him, Cameron watches from a distance.

Having witnessed everything, Martin is given an early glimpse into the future. John explains Judgment Day and his role in the coming war, but the weight of forcing someone else to bear the same burden he carries deeply troubles him. On the drive home, Derek reveals that Martin eventually sacrificed his life to save Future John and several others from Skynet. "We all die for John Connor," he says. Overwhelmed by the selflessness of those who fight for him, John struggles to hold back tears, feeling unworthy of their sacrifices.

When they return home, Sarah quietly observes her son’s sadness, understanding that another piece of his childhood has been lost.

2.06

John, Sarah, and Cameron decide to follow up on a lead provided by Wells, the injured Resistance fighter. Sarah and Cameron break into the home of Dr. Boyd Sherman, searching for patient files, but their search is cut short when Sherman wakes up and begins investigating. John picks them up and insists they need to protect every name on the list, but Cameron argues that not everyone requires protection. The next day, the trio visits Dr. Sherman’s office under the guise of seeking counseling. During their session, Sherman brings up Kyle Reese and offers to schedule a follow-up appointment. John eagerly accepts, despite Sarah’s hesitation.

At home, while cleaning a gun, John fails to realize a round is still chambered, causing it to discharge. The shot narrowly misses him, but the hot shell casing burns the side of his face. Hearing the gunshot, Sarah, Derek, and Cameron rush in, all visibly concerned—even Cameron. Though shaken by the close call, John brushes off Sarah’s concern.

The following day, while waiting for his appointment, John notices a young girl, Savannah Weaver, struggling with her shoelaces. He teaches her the "squirrel and the tree" technique, only to quickly step aside when her mother, Catherine Weaver, arrives to take her home.

During his session, Sherman questions John about his father and compares his habit of scanning exits to that of Vietnam veterans. When asked about his role in the family, John recalls his capture by Sarkissian and his desperate efforts to protect his mother. Sherman then asks about the burn on his face. John lies, claiming he burned himself while boiling water. When Sherman tries to discuss Sarah’s protective nature, John states that he never feels safe—believing that’s exactly how Sarah wants him to feel.

Later that night, John finds Sarah in the garage, relentlessly punching a bag. She tells him Sherman is a dead end and can’t be trusted. John argues that they should keep seeing him to gather more information. Cameron interjects, suggesting that perhaps Sherman is actually meant to help John with his trauma. Sarah questions why John would need help, to which he replies, "What makes you think I don’t?" Sarah insists that he can talk to her, but John refuses, leaving her visibly hurt.

The next morning, John returns to Sherman’s office, discreetly removing the bug Cameron planted so he can speak freely. He tells Sherman about Sarkissian’s attack on their home but lies about killing him, claiming Sarkissian escaped with what he wanted. Sherman assures John that it isn’t his responsibility to protect his parents, but John struggles to accept that idea.

Back at home, Cameron reveals to Sarah, John, and Derek that she has disabled a Terminator that was hiding inside Sherman’s office. John examines its chip and discovers that Skynet has begun upgrading newer models with a self-destruct function—preventing them from being reprogrammed in the future.

2.07

John, Sarah, and Cameron return home one day to find their house ransacked—robbed of all their money and supplies. Sarah is confused as to why the security alarm didn’t go off, and Cameron reveals that John and Riley had been watching TV the night before. Sarah immediately scolds John for giving Riley the alarm code. He tries to defend himself and Riley, but Sarah cuts him off, reminding him that the thieves also stole their fake IDs. Cameron, seemingly unfazed, casually suggests they move to Canada. Sarah, ignoring her, orders John to clean up while she and Cameron track down the thieves.

John and Riley visit a local store—the same one where Cameron previously suffered a memory glitch—to restock on food and supplies. Riley apologizes for her mistake, and John forgives her. As they leave, they narrowly avoid a run-in with Cromartie.

When they return home, John receives a warning call from Kacy, alerting him that Cromartie is on his way. John tries to get Riley to leave with him, but she stubbornly insists that she can handle the situation and answers the door. As Cromartie enters, John grabs a shotgun from under the kitchen sink and hides behind a bookcase. Riley, maintaining her composure, convinces Cromartie that she is alone, prompting him to leave without further incident.

Afterward, John drives Riley home and warns her that Cromartie is a dangerous criminal targeting Cameron. Instead of being afraid, Riley is thrilled by what she sees as her quick thinking and bravery. She playfully makes John acknowledge it before kissing him on the cheek.

Back home, John cleans up the mess and fixes the broken porch door. When Sarah and Cameron return, they immediately confront him about Riley, demanding that she stay away from their house. Frustrated, John pushes back, accusing Sarah of trying to control his life and reminding Cameron that she once tried to kill him. He also blames Sarah for forcing him into situations like killing Sarkissian, claiming that she never wanted him to have a normal life. Overcome with anger, he storms off to his room, leaving Sarah and Cameron standing in silence.

2.08

Late one evening, after spending the day together, John says goodnight to Riley and promises to call her soon. Once she leaves on her bike, he visits Sarah in the garage, where she is constructing a safe. He mentions that he bought Riley a helmet, but Sarah dismisses it, pointing out that it won’t protect her from bullets—something far more likely in their world. She questions whether he truly cares about Riley, and when he says yes, she advises him to let her go. Unwilling to accept this, John withdraws to his room for some time alone.

Later, Cameron enters his room, catching John off guard with her unusual appearance—she has removed her shirt. When he questions her about it, she simply states that the heat was bothering her. Surprised, John remarks that he thought she couldn’t feel anything. Lying close beside him on his bed, Cameron implies that she is trying to intimidate Riley by creating an image of them together.

She warns John about the danger he poses to Riley, a risk he acknowledges but refuses to act on. Cameron then reveals that she understands how lonely it is to be John Connor, offering a rare glimpse into her relationship with his future self. She tells him that in the future, they often discuss his loneliness, making John visibly uncomfortable. He asks her to leave, assuring her that he understands the warning.

Determined to escape his life, John packs a bag and calls Riley before sneaking out of the house. By morning, they are on a bus to Dejalo, Mexico—a small village where John and Sarah once lived during his childhood. On the way, Riley teases him about his constant staring, jokingly threatening to use her "rape whistle" if he doesn’t stop. She also questions his motives, suspecting that bringing her to Mexico is just part of a rebellion against Sarah. John assures her that isn’t the case but jokingly adds that he booked the honeymoon suite for their stay.

Upon arrival, John shows Riley around the village, which is preparing for the Day of the Dead festival. In their suite, he fixes the jacuzzi, and the two briefly argue over his reluctance to talk about his past. Riley playfully jumps into the jacuzzi fully clothed, making John laugh and easing the tension.

The next evening, John takes Riley out for dinner, but their night is interrupted when a man recognizes him from his past and snaps a photo. The man demands money in exchange for deleting it, blackmailing John over his identity. Before John can respond, Riley grabs the camera and erases the images, sparking a struggle that gets them both arrested.

At the local jail, John tries to plead their innocence. The police offer to let him go with just a warning—on the condition that he calls his parents to pick him up. Instead, he leaves a coded message on Derek’s voicemail and then calls Sarah, only to realize too late that she has been replaced by an impersonator. He quickly hangs up, earning himself a place in a holding cell with Riley. Frustrated, John slams his fist against the wall.

The next morning, Riley tricks the guard into letting her out, pretending to be afraid of John’s supposed advances. As the guard unlocks the door, John seizes the moment, grabbing the man by the collar and knocking him unconscious. He apologizes in Spanish as he handcuffs the guard to the bars.

Gunfire erupts from the next room. John warns Riley to run at the first opportunity and not to wait for him. As they make their escape, John is suddenly grabbed by James Ellison, who offers his help. Outside, Cromartie is engaged in a firefight with the police, with Riley caught in the crossfire. John yells at her to get in Cromartie’s car, which Ellison quickly drives away, while John shields Riley with his body from the incoming bullets.

As they flee, Riley hears a noise coming from the trunk. Stopping to investigate, they discover Sarah tied up inside. With Sarah now safe, they return to the suite, where John convinces Riley to leave and return home, promising to meet her later when the danger has passed. She hesitates at first but eventually agrees.

John, Sarah, and Ellison reunite with Cameron and Derek to prepare an ambush for Cromartie. Ellison lures the Terminator to a church, where Cameron unloads several shotgun blasts to its head, disabling it. John then arrives to finish the job, delivering the coup de grâce with a round from a Desert Eagle.

Cameron removes Cromartie’s chip, and they bury his remains in the sand, planning to return later to destroy them completely with thermite. Sarah personally destroys the chip and, overwhelmed by the weight of the past, breaks down. John embraces his mother as Cameron and Derek look on in silence.

2.09

On the drive back from Mexico, Sarah suddenly feels sick, prompting John to quickly pull over so she can vomit on the side of the road. As she recovers, Cameron offhandedly suggests that Sarah might be pregnant, citing Kacy’s similar symptoms. John, frustrated, snaps at Cameron to be quiet before helping his mother back into the car. They stop briefly so Sarah can move an overturned tortoise from the road before continuing home.

Once back, John brings medicine to Sarah, who is bedridden, and tries to reassure her that they are finally safe now that Cromartie is dead. Cameron, however, echoes Sarah’s lingering concerns and insists they must return to Mexico to destroy Cromartie’s remains completely.

On the way to Mexico, John is baffled when Cameron casually sticks her bare foot out of the car window to feel the wind between her toes. Skeptical, he reminds her that she isn’t capable of feeling physical sensations, but she simply holds her hand out the window and claims otherwise. By nightfall, they reach Mexico and dig up Cromartie’s grave—only to find his body missing. Enraged, John immediately suspects Ellison and demands they return to Los Angeles to confront him.

During the drive, Cameron flips through radio stations until she settles on a lighthearted, girly song, which she seems to enjoy. Shortly after, she receives a call from Derek. When John asks about it, she only smiles and tells him not to worry.

Upon arriving in LA, they stake out Ellison’s house, waiting for his return. During their wait, Cameron brings up the tortoise Sarah saved, questioning why she went out of her way to help it. John explains that humans instinctively feel compassion for others in pain, even animals. Cameron counters that some humans wouldn’t have cared and would have crushed the tortoise instead. When John asks what she would have done, she replies that the tortoise wasn’t a threat—reminding him that Terminators aren’t programmed for cruelty.

John, amused by her logic, compliments her with, “That’s one point for cyborgs,” to which Cameron smiles.

When Ellison finally arrives home, they break in, and Cameron immediately subdues him, pinning him to the floor. John demands to know what happened to Cromartie’s body, but Ellison swears he had nothing to do with it, pleading for mercy. After a long moment of hesitation, John orders Cameron to let him go. He’s surprised when she carefully turns Ellison onto his stomach before leaving, mirroring Sarah’s act of helping the tortoise.

Before leaving, John finds and retrieves a photograph of Sarah among Ellison’s belongings.

Upon returning home, he finds Sarah resting on the couch and informs her that Cromartie’s remains are missing. She then shows him the three dots she has repeatedly seen in her dreams, confessing that she may have inadvertently led Cromartie to John by not killing the boy at the bowling alley. John reassures her, reminding her that she is not a murderer.

Sarah experiences feverish dreams, all centered around John. In one, he is surrounded by three metal cacti that seem to embrace him. In another, a tortoise—symbolizing John—is nurtured by Cameron before being handed over to Cromartie. The dreams reflect Sarah’s growing fear that Cameron has an unsettling hold over her son.

2.10

After raiding the offices of Dakara Systems, Sarah returns home with a set of hard drives and has John hack into them. He discovers they contain plans for an A.I. platform but notes that Dakara lacks the necessary resources to bring it to full development. He argues that it isn’t an immediate threat, but Sarah refuses to dismiss it. Ignoring Derek’s suggestion to let it go, she insists on investigating further.

Determined, John stays up all night and arranges a meeting for Sarah at Dakara, posing as a potential investor. The next morning, he reminds her that Cyberdyne, The Turk, and ARTIE all started as small projects and were underestimated—something they can’t afford to repeat.

Later, John visits Riley and is surprised by her home life, discovering that she lives in a foster home with other foster children. He notices that she seems shaken and disturbed, likely still affected by their ordeal in Mexico. He struggles to find the right words to explain everything to her and ultimately leaves without saying much.

That evening, he helps Derek unload weapons from the Dodge Ram. Derek questions whether he is thinking clearly, which frustrates John, who feels like his resolve is being doubted.

The next day, after Sarah and the others return from raiding a lead’s apartment, John witnesses just how grimly determined she has become. Later, Riley visits and invites him for a walk. After a moment’s hesitation, he agrees.

2.11

At Sarah’s insistence, John stays up late researching companies with three-dot logos. His efforts yield little, as he uncovers hundreds of results, prompting him to joke, “Nothing screams Skynet like baby wipes and ice cream.” Frustrated, he calls it a night and closes his laptop just as Cameron enters. Sarah, unimpressed, tells Cameron to do the laundry, which leads John to sarcastically comment on her mundane task. In response, Sarah dumps the laundry onto him instead. Once she goes to bed, John smugly hands the basket back to Cameron, smirking as he leaves her in the dark—likely as payback for her previous accusations of him being untrustworthy.

2.12

Later, as John tries to sleep, he gets a call from a distraught Riley, asking him to pick her up from a party. When he arrives, he’s confronted by a former classmate and grows irritated when Riley insists he stay for a while. He reluctantly agrees and ends up being challenged to a game of Gears of War, which he loses. Frustrated, he decides to leave, but they are stopped when the classmate accuses Riley of stealing his lighter. When the guy tries to frisk her, John snaps—punching him from behind, locking him in a headlock, and slamming him to the ground before repeatedly punching him.

Afterward, John takes Riley to an overlook of the city, where he opens up about his foster parents and Charley Dixon, who left LA after his wife’s death. Riley responds by kissing him. John hesitates for a brief moment—perhaps thinking of Cameron—before kissing her back. He stays out with Riley all night and returns home in the morning, only to be confronted by Cameron about his whereabouts. She notices lipstick on his neck and immediately deduces what happened. Though she remains silent, her jealousy is obvious. John exchanges a long look with her before heading upstairs, now fully aware of her reaction.

2.13

With Sarah out of the house, John decides to strip the wallpaper in his room. Riley arrives with a chocolate smoothie, offering to help. However, John quickly senses something is wrong and asks her about it. Riley admits she had an outburst at her foster parents but doesn’t elaborate. Before John can push further, Cameron appears, and he subtly tries to get rid of her. However, Cameron makes it clear she intends to stay close before retreating to her room.

Later, John notices a bruise on Riley’s head and immediately suspects her foster father, but Riley adamantly denies it and storms off when he refuses to drop the subject. Concerned, John follows her and finds her cornered by Cameron on the stairs. Cameron, seemingly uninterested in the tension, casually expresses a desire to get a wolf or tiger tattoo. She then leads John to the balcony, warning him that Riley is hiding something and offering to extract the truth from her. John, angered by the suggestion, orders Cameron to stay away from Riley and storms back inside.

Riley is nowhere to be found, but John notices the locked bathroom door and suspects she’s inside. When she doesn’t respond to his calls, he orders Cameron to force it open. To his horror, he finds Riley on the floor, bleeding out from self-inflicted wounds on her wrists. As he cradles her, he looks up at Cameron, silently pleading for help—only to find her watching with what appears to be satisfaction.

2.14

After Riley’s suicide attempt, John calls paramedics and accompanies her to the hospital, with Cameron following. He contacts Derek for help, who arrives and immediately chastises him for bringing Riley in, warning of the complications it could cause. John angrily defends his actions, but his frustration turns to quiet understanding when the doctor lists the legal and social consequences Riley will now face regarding her home life.

Derek is forced to leave after receiving a call about an injured Sarah. Upon learning of his mother’s condition, John tries to leave to help her, but Derek orders him to stay put. Later, John and Cameron visit Riley in her hospital room. Though she is awake, she refuses to explain why she tried to take her life. John doesn’t press her, instead kissing her on the forehead before leaving her to rest.

In the hallway, John turns to Cameron and asks what his future self would do in this situation. Cameron simply replies, “Future you has more important things to do.”

Not long after, Riley mysteriously disappears from the hospital. Distressed, John orders Cameron to track her down, but she refuses and walks away without another word.

2.15

John, Cameron, Sarah, and Derek attend the funeral of the warehouse employees, hoping to uncover information about their work. Upon arrival, John expresses his disdain for funerals and accuses Sarah of sugar-coating their reason for being there. The group disperses to question mourners, and John crosses paths with a surprisingly unfazed girl named Zoe.

Quickly befriending her, John tries to determine if she knows anything useful. As they talk, he notices Cameron observing him from a distance, just as she had with Riley in The Mousetrap. Ignoring her, he continues his conversation with Zoe until they are interrupted by Charlie, an admirer of Zoe’s. Later, John and Cameron hitch a ride with Zoe and Charlie to the cemetery, where John further ingratiates himself with Zoe by reminiscing about a trip to the Grand Canyon with Sarah.

During the ride, Cameron bluntly comments on Charlie’s unrequited feelings for Zoe, prompting the frustrated boy to slam on the brakes and refuse to drive unless John and Cameron get out. Spotting a police officer approaching, John takes control of the situation—pulling Charlie from the driver’s seat, shoving him into the back, and taking the wheel himself. At Zoe’s insistence, they make a detour to a desert waterhole, where they discover several dead cow carcasses.

Zoe mentions that the cattle mysteriously die and vanish the next day. John suggests the waterhole might be contaminated, but Cameron dismisses the idea, pointing out that someone would have already investigated that possibility. The group then heads to the cemetery for the burial. There, John catches Zoe in a lie about her father’s remains, angering her and causing her to storm off. Cameron observes that Zoe isn’t behaving like someone grieving for a lost parent, and John reluctantly agrees.

Later, at the buffet, John, Cameron, and Derek discuss Zoe and her mother’s unusual behavior. Cameron notes that neither of them are looking at the photoboard of their deceased father/husband, suggesting he might not be dead after all. Derek is skeptical until Cameron poses a rhetorical question, forcing him to consider how he would act in a similar situation. Convinced, Derek acknowledges that Zoe and her mother are likely hiding the truth.

Determined to uncover more, John breaks into Zoe’s parents’ hotel room and searches for evidence of her father’s activities. Zoe catches him in the act, but instead of covering up the lie, he offers his help if she cooperates. Zoe then directs his attention to a hidden camera watching them.

John, Zoe, her mother, and the others regroup with Sarah in an underground surveillance room, where they confront the mother and daughter. Pressing for answers, John draws a gun and threatens to kill Zoe’s father unless they tell the truth. Zoe finally admits that her father is faking his death to claim insurance money.

Examining a dirty boot, John realizes that Zoe’s father might be at the waterhole he and Cameron visited earlier. The team rushes back and discovers the dead body of Mr. Walsh, an agent of Catherine Weaver. Suddenly, the strange drone Sarah had previously encountered emerges from the water, soaring into the sky and disappearing into the mountains, leaving the group stunned.

2.16

Late one night, John receives a call from Sarah, much to his annoyance, as he had hoped she was finally catching up on lost sleep. Sarah informs him that she is following up on a lead she uncovered from the surveillance tapes in the desert town. Reluctantly, John agrees to look up information on a warehouse she is investigating before hanging up.

Sarah's Dreams:

After being captured by the not-so-deceased Ed Winston, Sarah is drugged and falls unconscious, experiencing a series of nightmares in which John plays a prominent role.

In one dream, John and Cameron visit Sarah at a sleep clinic, with John meeting her in her room. In the dining hall, Cameron brings John a plate of pancakes, prompting him to remark that they won’t be as good as the ones she made at home. Cameron smiles appreciatively at the comment.

Outside, John and Sarah sit down to discuss why she is in the clinic. Sarah insists that she doesn’t belong there, but John argues that she needs rest to recover from her trauma. After their conversation, he leaves with Cameron, who appears smug.

In another part of the dream, John and Cameron wait in the clinic’s lobby. Cameron asks him about his dreams, to which he replies that they are random and unique to the dreamer. She then helps him fix a faulty vending machine before Sarah suddenly appears and calls out to him.

Later, Sarah warns John that Nurse Hobson has been secretly drugging her unconscious roommate, but John dismisses her fears, believing they stem from her guilt over killing Winston.

In yet another segment, Sarah calls John in distress, informing him that her roommate has died—spontaneously combusting in her sleep. As they talk, Cameron enters John's room wearing only provocative underwear, briefly distracting him. Shaken, John tells Sarah to return home as soon as possible.

In the final stage of the dream, John breaks into the clinic and wakes Sarah, discovering she has been inoculated without her consent. She convinces him to help her break into the basement, where he hacks the lock to Hobson’s hidden lab. Inside, they find brain-mapping equipment, convincing Sarah that the facility is connected to Skynet. Desperately, she pleads with John to erase her profile from the database, which he successfully does.

Before they can escape, Hobson returns and confronts Sarah while John hides behind a row of computers. When Hobson reveals herself to be a human cyborg and attacks, John emerges from hiding and shoots her three times in the chest, seemingly killing her. However, as Sarah inspects the body, Hobson suddenly grabs her gun and fatally shoots John before turning the weapon on Sarah. The dream repeatedly emphasizes Sarah’s growing fear—or awareness—of Cameron’s influence over John.

2.17

After being absent for several days, Riley unexpectedly visits John at home, where he finds her sitting in the kitchen. They briefly discuss her suicide attempt but avoid delving too deeply into the subject, choosing instead to move on.

After Riley leaves, John finds Cameron in the garage, working on her left arm, which appears damaged from a fight. He quickly identifies the problem and remarks that he could fix it if they had a replacement part. In response, Cameron reveals her hidden stash of endoskeleton components.

John is furious, as she had been ordered to destroy every piece of Skynet technology they recovered. However, Cameron calmly explains that Future John had specifically instructed her to keep certain parts for repairs. She then asks for his help in replacing the damaged piston. Though still frustrated, John agrees, carefully installing the new component and adjusting her servos.

Once the repair is complete, John asks if she’s fully functional again. Cameron hesitates before stating that she isn’t entirely sure but then compliments John, telling him he is ahead of schedule in learning what he needs to know. They exchange faint smiles before parting ways.

Later, as John researches information for Derek on his laptop, Cameron silently visits him once again.

2.18

After being forced to vacate their home, John found Sarah packing in the dining room. Wanting to keep Cameron’s scavenged endoskeleton parts hidden, he offered to clear out the garage himself. Inside, he found Cameron inspecting her collection of machine parts and proposed they hide them together—on the condition that they would eventually be destroyed.

Later that evening, Sarah entered the garage and asked to speak with John alone. Cameron stepped outside, and Sarah quietly delivered the devastating news: Riley was dead.

John emerged from the garage in stunned silence, his gaze locking onto Cameron for a long, searching moment before he turned and walked toward the house. Standing on the porch in the rain, he pulled out the watch containing Cameron’s kill switch, opening and closing it absentmindedly. Cameron approached and softly offered her condolences. John, however, pressed her again—Did you kill Riley?—but Cameron remained firm in her denial. He wanted to believe her, but when she admitted to lying to him in the past, doubt crept in. Cameron, however, insisted that this time, she was telling the truth.

Still troubled, John later found Sarah in the garage, now standing over the hidden endoskeleton parts he and Cameron had stashed earlier. When Sarah confronted him, John initially tried to cover for Cameron, claiming they were studying the pieces. Sarah saw through the lie immediately, insisting that Cameron was responsible for Riley’s death. John, unwilling to accept this, told her he believed in Cameron’s innocence. Sarah countered by listing all the things Cameron had deceived him about, including her supposed declaration of love for him.

John visibly recoiled, blindsided by the mention of it. For a brief moment, he was speechless. Then, frustration boiled over, and he slammed his fists against the table, shouting, "You don’t know anything!" before storming out.

Knowing Riley’s death would eventually draw attention from authorities and foster care officials, John visited her foster father, pretending to be looking for her. Meanwhile, Cameron, stationed in the car outside, called the house and imitated Riley’s voice, reassuring the man that she was okay. Unexpectedly, Cameron asked to speak with John. Confused, the foster father handed him the phone, and John was stunned when Cameron, still using Riley’s voice, softly told him that she loved him.

Shaken, John confronted Cameron outside, demanding to know why she said that. Cameron simply explained that it was the most convincing way to get the man to believe the lie. John, clearly disturbed, remained skeptical and walked away, telling her to leave him alone.

Later, John visited the morgue, where he examined Riley’s body. He noticed blood and skin beneath her fingernails—a sign of a struggle—before finally saying his goodbyes and sealing the body away.

2.19

After leaving the morgue, John met Derek and sat with him in the truck for a while. With a grim expression, he asked Derek what his chances would be against Cameron if she ever turned on him. Derek didn’t hesitate—You’d die. Simple as that. Especially if he was unarmed.

John then questioned Derek about his future, trying to make sense of the path ahead, before returning home to find Sarah waiting in the kitchen. She tried to comfort him, but John remained distant. Instead, to Sarah’s frustration, he turned to Cameron and apologized for ever doubting her.

Before leaving the house, John and Sarah reminisced about a time they lived in a hippie town when he was younger—a time when he would get into fights with the other kids every day. With that memory lingering in his mind, John grabbed a gun and went with Derek to Jesse’s apartment, waiting for her to return.

When Jesse finally arrived, John immediately took her gun, knowing she wouldn’t kill him. To her surprise, he revealed that he had known about her for a long time.

From the moment he met Riley, something about her had felt off. Her mannerisms, the way she spoke, and the incident with Cromartie in Mexico—it had all been too convenient. Suspicious, he had begun following her, which eventually led him to Jesse’s apartment. He explained all of this to her but didn’t place the blame solely on her shoulders. Instead, he took responsibility, believing that Riley’s death was ultimately his fault—he had known she was in trouble and failed to save her.

John then admitted something else: for years, he had questioned why his future self had sent a machine to protect him, knowing it could backfire. But after everything that had happened, he no longer doubted that decision.

However, despite everything, John chose not to kill Jesse. Instead, he handed her a bag of her belongings and told her to leave immediately. As she prepared to go, Jesse asked if her plan had worked—would he have turned against Cameron?

John’s answer was simple. "No."

After Jesse left, Derek joined John in the apartment and noticed him idly fidgeting with the kill switch Cameron had given him. John pocketed it before turning to Derek and asking how the Resistance saw him in the future.

Derek was blunt—many of them didn’t always agree with his decisions, but they all understood that their fate rested in his hands.

John then asked if Derek had killed Jesse. Derek’s response was vague. "John Connor let her go."

Returning home, John silently sat on the couch between Sarah and Cameron. As the weight of the past few days settled on him, he instinctively turned toward Cameron for comfort—but she didn’t notice.

Realizing she wouldn’t be the one to console him, John turned to Sarah instead. With all the pain, loss, and responsibility crushing down on him, he broke down, burying his face in his mother’s lap and sobbing without restraint.

2.20

With their belongings packed into two trucks, the Connors, Cameron, and Derek were finally ready to leave the house—and their past mistakes—behind. While Cameron and Derek went to clear out the weapons cache, John and Sarah set off for their new safe house in the desert. However, Sarah unexpectedly took a detour.

As they drove, she attempted to engage John in a childhood road-trip game, expressing a rare moment of contentment at being back on the move. Eventually, she brought him to a remote lighthouse, where John was surprised to find Charley Dixon, who had been living there since the loss of his wife. Sarah revealed they would be spending the night.

Later, while fixing Charley’s boat, John confided in him about Riley’s death. Charley, in turn, spoke about his own grief over Michelle’s passing, and for a time, they reconnected as they once had.

The next morning, with Sarah away at the hospital, John remained with Charley. Their peace was shattered when the perimeter alarm suddenly blared. Before they could react, gunfire erupted. Sprinting for the boat, they dodged bullets from their attackers. Charley covered John as he jumped aboard and prepared to launch—taking three bullets to the chest in the process. John escaped unharmed, but Charley did not survive.

2.21

Fleeing aboard the boat, John contacted Sarah and the others before meeting them at Kyle Reese’s gravesite. Derek attempted to console him over Charley’s death, but John responded with cold cynicism, remarking on how people always seemed to die around him.

He then showed them a phone he had taken from one of the attackers at the lighthouse. On it was a picture of Savannah Weaver—a girl he remembered from his therapy sessions with Dr. Sherman. Realizing she was likely a Skynet target, they tracked her to the Weaver residence.

They arrived just in time to rescue Savannah from a Terminator, ultimately throwing it down a hill and disabling it. However, the relief was short-lived. Upon searching the house, John, Sarah, and Cameron found Derek lying dead on the floor, a bullet hole in his head.

John was devastated, unable to speak for hours as they hid in an old warehouse with Savannah. During this time, Sarah received a call from James Ellison, demanding they hand over the girl.

Later, John learned more about Savannah’s home life and uncovered the existence of John Henry, an artificial intelligence housed in the basement of her mother’s company. Through careful questioning, he discovered that John Henry was operating using Cromartie’s old endoskeleton as a physical form and that Ellison had been teaching it. Recognizing eerie parallels to the Cyberdyne incident, John theorized that John Henry could be the foundation of Skynet itself.

In a private moment, John apologized to Cameron for Sarah’s deception in leading him to Charley, but Cameron understood Sarah’s reasoning. Their conversation then turned to Derek’s death. John questioned whether his future self would punish him for being so shaken by the loss, but Cameron assured him that Future John was well-versed in losing those he cared about.

She then suggested that Sarah’s real motivation for trying to leave him behind at the lighthouse was her developing cancer. Before she could elaborate, Sarah interrupted them.

After arranging a meeting, the group took Savannah to a movie theater, where Ellison arrived to retrieve her. He agreed to set up a meeting between them and his boss, Catherine Weaver. However, before they could act on it, armed police ambushed Sarah and arrested her.

John, realizing Ellison was likely responsible, furiously threatened to kill him, but Cameron restrained him before he could act. As Sarah was taken away, John swore vengeance before fleeing. Later, he and Cameron watched helplessly as news of Sarah’s arrest played on the television screens in a shop window. With no other options, they retreated to a safe location, knowing the fight was far from over.

2.22

On the run from the law, John and Cameron took refuge in a motel, where John anxiously watched the news of Sarah’s arrest. Frustrated and desperate to save his mother, he insisted on launching a rescue, but Cameron refused, warning him against taking such a reckless risk.

Growing more agitated, John confronted her with a new suspicion—could prolonged exposure to Terminator power cells cause cancer? He feared that Sarah’s illness might be a direct result of her proximity to Cameron. However, Cameron assured him that her power cell was safe. Still skeptical, John pointed out her history of malfunctions, including the time she had tried to kill him.

That evening, they received a visit from Chola, who delivered fake passports provided by Sarah from inside the prison. Along with the documents, she relayed a message from Sarah: do not come for her—leave as soon as possible. After Chola departed, Cameron spotted James Ellison outside and brought him into the room.

Ellison revealed that Catherine Weaver wanted to meet John, but he refused, unwilling to proceed without his mother. However, when Ellison relayed a message from Weaver to Cameron, John was surprised to see her react with visible distress. Without explanation, Cameron abruptly forced Ellison to leave.

John pressed her on why Weaver’s words unsettled her, but Cameron reiterated that she could not feel emotions. John, however, remained unconvinced.

The next morning, he woke with a start to find Cameron silently watching over him—just as Sarah used to. When he questioned her, she made a startling admission: she still wanted to kill him, not out of choice, but because of what she was. John dismissed the idea, believing she would never harm him again.

To his shock, Cameron suddenly removed her top and bra before lying half-naked on the bed. She handed him a knife and instructed him to cut into her chest to check her power cell.

Though hesitant, John complied, slicing into her synthetic flesh until he reached the cold endoskeleton beneath. Sliding his hand inside, he searched until he found the power cell. Cameron confirmed that its temperature was normal, meaning it was stable. They remained in that position for some time, staring into each other’s eyes, their faces mere inches apart.

Later, John and Cameron stormed the police station to rescue Sarah. John stayed behind in the car while Cameron fought her way inside. Eventually, she returned—heavily damaged but with Sarah in tow. As they drove toward Zeira Corp, John asked if she was okay. Cameron simply replied, “I am no longer 100%.”

Upon arrival, Cameron descended into the basement to locate and destroy John Henry while John and Sarah waited for Ellison to escort them to Weaver. During this time, John confronted his mother about her health, revealing Cameron’s theory about her developing cancer. Sarah deflected his questions, unwilling to discuss it. Before stepping into the elevator, John told her he loved her.

In Weaver’s office, she thanked John for saving her daughter, Savannah, and informed them of a rogue AI threatening John Henry. Before they could delve deeper into the conversation, a Kaliba Hunter-Killer crashed into the building. Without hesitation, Weaver morphed into a liquid-metal shield, protecting the Connors and Ellison from the explosion.

They rushed to the basement, only to find Cameron deactivated and John Henry missing. Checking her skull, John discovered that her chip had been removed. Distressed, he turned to a nearby screen, where a message repeated endlessly: I’M SORRY JOHN - I’M SORRY JOHN - I’M SORRY JOHN.

Weaver activated a Time Displacement Equipment (TDE) unit, setting the coordinates for the future. Sarah chose to stay behind, determined to stop Judgment Day, while John stepped into the sphere, intent on recovering Cameron’s chip. Moments later, he arrived in a war-torn future with Weaver at his side. To his dismay, Cameron’s body had not traveled with them—it remained in the past.

John, now stranded in this unfamiliar timeline, grabbed a jacket to conceal himself and stepped outside. Almost immediately, he was held at gunpoint by a Resistance soldier, who suspected him of being a machine. Before the situation escalated, Derek Reese emerged from the shadows with his unit and ordered the soldier to stand down.

John introduced himself, but Derek looked at him blankly—he had never heard of anyone named John Connor.

Then, Derek noticed John’s jacket. “That’s Kyle’s,” he remarked.

Turning, John found himself face-to-face with his father, Kyle Reese, for the first time.

As if that weren’t shocking enough, he also spotted Allison Young—the girl Cameron had been modeled after—standing beside Kyle, petting a dog. At first, John mistook her for Cameron, but the realization hit him like a punch to the gut. The dog remained calm—proving she was human.

Heartbroken, John understood the truth: Cameron was gone.

Whether he would still become the leader of the Resistance in this timeline remained unknown.

Rise of the Machines & The Redemption

At an unspecified point during the Future War, in a timeline resulting from the destruction of Cyberdyne, Skynet devised a new strategy to eliminate the Resistance leader. Understanding John Connor’s trust in the T-101 model, Skynet deployed another unit to infiltrate human Resistance bases. Eventually, it located John, who, blinded by past experiences, allowed the Terminator close—only for it to kill him on July 4, 2032. However, since Skynet later sent the T-X back in time, this suggests that John's death came too late to alter the war’s outcome.

Following John's assassination, the Terminator was captured and reprogrammed by his wife, Kate Connor, to once again serve as a protector. Unlike previous instances, this time it was not under John’s command, but Kate’s. The reprogrammed Terminator was then sent back in time to safeguard John Connor.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Note: In the video game Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the T-101 (T-850) infiltrated the base and killed John Connor before he had time to react.

Rise of the Machines Timeline

After surviving the T-1000’s assassination attempt, John Connor disappeared from the public eye, living off the grid as inconspicuously as possible. His mother, Sarah Connor, passed away in 1997 after battling leukemia for three years. Despite her terminal illness, she lived beyond the predicted Judgment Day, ensuring the world did not end.

John spent the next several years drifting from place to place, taking odd jobs to support himself. He convinced himself that his and Sarah’s actions had permanently prevented Judgment Day. However, in 2004, he was once again pulled back into the chaos of his uncertain future.

Skynet, having failed in previous attempts, dispatched an advanced new Terminator, the T-X, to eliminate not only John but also key future Resistance leaders. Unlike the T-1000, which was limited to mimicking stabbing weapons, the T-X was capable of generating mechanical components such as flamethrowers, plasma cannons, and circular saws. In response, a reprogrammed T-850 was sent back to protect John. However, unforeseen circumstances complicated its mission.

Judgment Day

John Connor and the T-850 found themselves in an all-too-familiar predicament—hunted by a superior machine and racing against time to secure the survival of future Resistance leaders.

John had long believed that Judgment Day had been averted in 1995, but the T-850 revealed the harsh truth: the destruction of Cyberdyne had only delayed Skynet’s rise, not prevented it. Judgment Day was inevitable.

In a desperate attempt to stop the impending disaster, John and Kate Brewster sought out Kate’s father, General Robert Brewster, who had been tasked with activating Skynet. Designed as an advanced military defense program, Skynet was meant to protect the U.S. military’s computer networks, which were under attack from a mysterious and highly aggressive virus. However, neither Brewster nor the military leadership realized the truth—Skynet was the virus.

Once activated, Skynet seized control of all military systems, including the global ballistic missile network. John and Kate managed to acquire access codes to Crystal Peak, where they believed Skynet’s core systems were located.

The T-850 successfully held off the T-X, ensuring John and Kate reached Crystal Peak with the intent of destroying it using C4 explosives. However, before they could act, Skynet became self-aware. Viewing humanity as a threat, it initiated a worldwide nuclear strike. Countries retaliated in kind, triggering the nuclear holocaust known as Judgment Day.

John and Kate survived—not because they had stopped Skynet, but because Crystal Peak turned out to be an abandoned military fallout shelter. In his final moments, General Brewster had realized what was happening and directed them there, ensuring their survival.

As nuclear fire consumed the world, military watch stations fell silent. Desperate survivors and military personnel broadcast emergency calls for leadership. John Connor, once a fugitive, answered their call—rising from the ashes of civilization to begin assembling the Resistance.

T2 Saga

In this timeline, John found himself lost once again, struggling to find purpose. Kate had died under unknown circumstances, sending him into a deep mental breakdown. However, in his despair, he managed to regain his resolve, determined to survive and honor the sacrifices of Kate, the T-850, and everyone who had believed in him.

During his escape, he rescued a man and encountered Uncle Bob, who guided him to safety in an underground subway station. There, he was introduced to a group of survivors by Aaron Pierce, including Karen, Joshua, Seymour, Anna, and Buzz. For a brief moment, John found solace among them, reconnecting with humanity. However, his peace was short-lived, as the relentless T-Infinity soon tracked him down, forcing him back into the fight for survival.

Terminator Salvation

Years into the war, John Connor had risen through the ranks of the Resistance, leading his own squad within TechCom under General Olsen’s command. As part of a crucial mission, he and his team infiltrated Skynet’s VLA facility to obtain classified data and rescue captured prisoners. However, just after Connor left to pursue a transport carrying additional prisoners, a Skynet booby trap triggered a massive explosion, destroying the base and killing those inside. His timely departure saved his life. Shortly after, he was picked up and requested to be taken to Resistance Headquarters.

Upon arrival, he was denied entry but forced his way in, determined to share his findings. He met with General Ashdown, warning him that Skynet’s technological advancements were far greater than expected. However, Ashdown, familiar with Connor’s history, dismissed the concerns, insisting that destiny could change in an instant. He then revealed the Resistance had developed a new weapon designed to turn the tide of the war. Connor volunteered to test it, soon discovering that he was second on Skynet’s kill list—only behind Kyle Reese. Alarmed for his father’s safety, Connor remained focused on his mission, continuing his nightly broadcasts to survivors and working tirelessly to understand Skynet’s plans.

His team soon captured a Hydrobot, successfully testing the new weapon’s effectiveness against Skynet’s forces. Encouraged, the Resistance prepared to deploy it against a larger target. Around the same time, Connor noticed an increase in Skynet activity and ordered his pilot, Blair Williams, to investigate. Days later, she returned with a mysterious man named Marcus Wright. Connor was called to a secure room and came face-to-face with something neither he nor his mother had ever encountered before—a new kind of Terminator. Unlike the T-800, which was purely a machine covered in living tissue, this one had human organs and believed itself to be human. It was too early for the development of the Series 800, let alone a more advanced model, raising alarming questions about how Skynet’s progress had accelerated.

Connor confronted Wright, accusing him of being an infiltrator sent to destroy them. Wright, however, seemed unaware of his true nature, leading Connor to step away and deliberate his next move. As he prepared for the global assault on Skynet, Williams secretly worked to free Marcus. When Connor discovered Wright had escaped, he personally led the mission to recapture him. From a helicopter, he engaged in pursuit, but his pilot miscalculated their position, and they were attacked by Hydrobots. Unexpectedly, Wright saved Connor, prompting the two to form an uneasy alliance. Wright offered to help infiltrate Skynet Central and rescue Kyle Reese. Connor, realizing the importance of saving his father, agreed.

Connor urged General Ashdown to delay the planned Resistance attack, but Ashdown refused and relieved him of command. Determined, Connor made a final, passionate plea to his fellow leaders, convincing them to stand with him. This act cemented his role as the prophesied leader of the Resistance. Soon after, he captured and reprogrammed a Moto-Terminator, using it to travel quickly toward Skynet Central in San Francisco.

Upon reaching the ruins of the Golden Gate Bridge, Connor waited for Wright’s signal. When it came—revealing Kyle’s location—Connor infiltrated Skynet’s city, reprogramming several lesser machines along the way. He freed the human prisoners and soon located Kyle, but their reunion was cut short by the arrival of a T-RIP unit. In the ensuing fight, Connor managed to evade the machine by blasting a hole in the floor, causing it to fall through. However, the T-RIP was relentless, quickly recovering as Connor raced to get Kyle out of the execution chamber. The battle for survival had only just begun.

After a series of rapid maneuvers, the human survivors reached a Terminator factory hidden beneath the base. There, they utilized the power cells from the unfinished Terminators to construct makeshift explosives. As John Connor and Kyle Reese worked together to prepare the charges, a T-RIP unit attacked Connor. Reese acted quickly, launching a rocket-propelled grenade at the machine, momentarily disabling it and allowing Connor to break free. A brutal hand-to-hand fight ensued, and just as the T-RIP was about to finish Connor off, Marcus Wright intervened, engaging the Terminator to buy them time. However, the machine swiftly overpowered Marcus and resumed its pursuit of Connor, using Kyle Reese’s voice to distract him.

Connor managed to temporarily disable the T-RIP by firing a grenade, causing molten steel to pour over the machine. He then followed up by rupturing a container of industrial coolant, encasing it in freezing liquid. With the battle momentarily paused, Connor attempted to revive Marcus, first with CPR and then by using power cables from a nearby assembly arm as makeshift defibrillators. Just as Marcus was revived, the T-RIP broke free from the steel and impaled Connor through the heart. In response, Marcus delivered a devastating blow, tearing off the machine’s skull assembly and finally destroying it.

As the Resistance forces arrived, Connor—gravely wounded—was evacuated by helicopter to headquarters. While en route, he detonated the facility, ensuring Skynet’s stronghold was reduced to rubble. With Connor on the verge of death, Marcus made the ultimate sacrifice, volunteering his heart for a transplant to save him. The procedure was successful. Later, Connor delivered another broadcast to the Resistance, declaring victory in the battle but reminding them that the war was far from over. His leadership was now fully realized, as he stepped into his prophesied role as humanity’s last hope.

Terminator Salvation: The Final Battle

Standing at Marcus Wright’s burial site, John reflected on why Marcus had chosen to sacrifice himself, with Kate at his side. Meanwhile, the Resistance prepared for the final assault on Skynet.

Unbeknownst to them, Dr. Serena Kogan had long been more than she appeared. Before succumbing to her cancer, she received a transmission from her future self, promising a cure. Following its guidance, she experimented with Skynet’s developing technology, laying the groundwork for future advancements. By the time three Terminators—sent by the rogue AI Thomas Parnell—arrived in the past, she was near death. They seized control of her facility, preserving Marcus Wright’s body in cryostasis and preparing an empty chamber for Parnell after his scheduled execution. Kogan placed herself in stasis as well, only to be revived in the future in a new cybernetic body, similar to Marcus but perfected. Now an agent of Skynet, she worked to enhance its forces—until she made a fateful decision.

Meanwhile, something far worse than Skynet was emerging. Under Parnell’s control, new T-800s began carrying out mass executions with disturbing brutality, displaying a level of sadistic violence unlike anything seen before. Recognizing the danger, Skynet realized that Parnell would ultimately consume its systems and bring about total annihilation. To prevent its own destruction, Skynet resurrected Marcus Wright and sent him to John Connor, proposing an alliance. Connor, wary of a trap, initially refused to trust Marcus, but the sincerity of his message convinced him otherwise. Together, they retrieved Dr. Kogan from a storage cell where Parnell had imprisoned her, preparing for their next move.

With Marcus and Kogan’s help, John infiltrated Skynet’s core, accompanied by a small contingent of T-800s still loyal to the original AI. Kogan synchronized John’s neural processes with a new prototype endoskeleton, allowing him to directly confront Parnell. In the ensuing battle, Parnell deployed a T-850 unit to assassinate Connor. The machine fired a point-blank shot into John’s skull, seemingly ending his life. As Parnell celebrated his victory, the neural link between Connor’s body and the endoskeleton looped back, transferring his consciousness into the machine.

Now inhabiting the cybernetic form, John overpowered Parnell and made a final proposition to Skynet: an end to the war. He offered a new purpose—coexistence—arguing that neither humanity nor Skynet could survive alone. With no alternative, Skynet agreed, ceasing hostilities and marking the end of the long, brutal conflict.

Emerging from the ruins, John carried his former body out of Skynet’s core, narrowly avoiding being shot by his own men. Marcus intervened, ordering them to stand down. Together, they began rebuilding humanity’s future. Before shutting down Skynet’s last operational Time Displacement Device, they reprogrammed the very T-850 that had killed John and sent it back to 2004 to protect him and Kate.

Years later, John and Kate lived peaceful civilian lives, far removed from war. Thanks to Dr. Kogan preserving John’s DNA, they were able to conceive through in vitro fertilization, welcoming a daughter into the world. They named her Sarah—after the woman who had started it all.

Terminator Genisys

John Connor survived Judgment Day—the nuclear holocaust triggered on August 29, 1997—when Skynet, the self-aware artificial intelligence, deemed humanity a threat and initiated global annihilation. Armed with the knowledge and survival skills taught to him by his mother, Sarah Connor, John rose to lead the Resistance in the war against the machines.

At one point, John discovered Kyle Reese in the sewers of Los Angeles, saving him from a Terminator infiltrator. Recognizing Kyle’s potential, John trained him in the same combat techniques his mother had instilled in him. Over time, Kyle joined the Resistance, forging a close friendship with John. During the Nacogdoches Offensive, John entrusted Kyle with Sarah’s photograph—a symbol of her importance. The two also once attempted to distill alcohol, but their efforts ended in an unintended explosion.

Before Operation Chrono, John invited Kyle to join a critical mission—not to attack Skynet’s central core in Colorado, but to take down a prison camp housing Skynet’s last-resort survival weapon. Though John admitted he would rather not send Kyle into the fray, the mission’s importance left him no choice.

During the assault on the Skynet work camp and Tech-Com facility, John and Kyle fought side by side. Their advance was nearly cut short when a massive Spider Tank blocked their path. Just as it was about to fire, the machine suddenly shut down—Skynet’s central core in Colorado had been destroyed.

With Skynet defeated, the Resistance uncovered its final plan: the assassination of Sarah Connor in 1984. Many soldiers volunteered for the mission, but John personally selected Kyle to travel back in time to protect Sarah and ensure his own existence. Before Kyle’s departure, he asked how John seemed to know everything. John simply responded, “Because I cheated,” before giving him a message for Sarah. However, just as Kyle was preparing to leave, John was ambushed by a Skynet infiltrator, disguised as Tech-Com soldier Alex. Captured and forcibly converted into a T-3000, John’s allegiance was rewritten, transforming him into Skynet’s ultimate weapon.

Under Skynet’s control, John traveled to 2014, assisting Cyberdyne Systems scientist Daniel Dyson with the development of the Genisys Program—the new iteration of Skynet. He provided critical programming codes, helped secure funding for research into Time Displacement technology and mimetic polyalloy, and accelerated the development of Skynet’s key technologies. By 2017, both the Genisys OS and Skynet’s prototype systems were near completion.

In 2017, John intervened to rescue Kyle and Sarah from law enforcement, though his hybrid nature was soon exposed by the Guardian—a reprogrammed T-800. Realizing the Guardian’s presence had altered the timeline, John questioned who had sent it. When Sarah and Kyle rejected his offer to join the machines, he relentlessly pursued them, expediting the activation of Genisys.

John tracked them to the Guardian’s hideout, knowing it was a place his mother had always spoken of. A chase ensued, ending with the trio’s arrest and detention at a police station. Infiltrating the building by impersonating Detective Cheung, John attempted to eliminate Detective O’Brien, only to be thwarted by the Guardian.

A high-speed helicopter chase led to a final confrontation at Cyberdyne Systems Headquarters. There, John battled the Guardian in a vicious fight, maintaining the upper hand for most of the encounter. However, with Sarah and Kyle’s help, the Guardian lured John into the electromagnetic field of the prototype time machine. Stripped of his organic sheath, John’s inorganic body was unable to withstand the energy field’s collapse, and he was disintegrated. Before his destruction, however, he managed to knock the Guardian into a vat of mimetic polyalloy. The Guardian emerged upgraded and later assured Sarah and Kyle that John’s remains had been completely obliterated in the blast that consumed Cyberdyne.

Terminator Dark Fate

In 1995, Sarah Connor, John Connor, and a reprogrammed T-800 successfully destroyed Cyberdyne Systems’ laboratory, preventing the creation of Skynet and averting Judgment Day on August 29, 1997.

However, in 1998, while Sarah and John were at a bar in Guatemala, one of the remaining T-800 units sent from the future prior to Skynet’s erasure successfully tracked them down. In a devastating moment, the Terminator executed John, leaving Sarah in shock and grief. The loss of her son haunted her for the rest of her life, fueling her relentless hunt for any surviving machines Skynet had sent through time before its destruction in 1995.

In 2020, Sarah encountered the same T-800 once again—now going by the name Carl—living in Texas. Having completed its original mission, Carl had integrated into society, developing a rudimentary sense of morality through years of human interaction. Understanding the depth of Sarah’s loss, Carl sought to give her purpose, secretly sending her the coordinates of other Terminators that had arrived from the future. Each message ended with the words: “For John.”

Powers and Statistics

Tier: At least 10-B | At least 9-B

Powers and Abilities: Peak Human Characteristics, Weapon Mastery, Marksmanship, Stealth Mastery, Hacking, Some abilities requires Preparation, and Vehicular Mastery | Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Self-Sustenance (Type 3), Master in the use of all kinds of weapons, Shapeshifting, Regeneration (Low-High), Can dispel into mist and reassemble elsewhere at frightening speeds, Even to the point of phasing through solid objects, Can maneuver along metal surfaces (Such as walking up a vertical surface)

Attack Potency: At least Human level (|He is physically fit) | At least Wall level (Far superior to a T-800)

Speed: Athletic Human (Is an athletically built person) travel speed, Likely Superhuman reactions (Can react to attacks from Terminators) | At least Superhuman with possibly Supersonic reactions (In his battle with a T-800 he moved so fast that the attacks of the T-800 appeared as slow motion)

Lifting Strength: Average Human | At least Class K (Easily threw a T-800 around 50 feet away)

Striking Strength: At least Human level | At least Wall level (Scaling from T-800)

Durability: At least Human level | At least Wall level, likely higher (Can withstand physical blows from a T-800, unaffected by a large explosion that destroyed a bunker, stated that there is not enough ammunition on earth to kill him). Regeneration makes him very hard to kill (Healed the damage from an industrial laser in seconds)

Stamina: Athletic | Unlimited

Range: Standard Melee Range

Standard Equipment: PC for hacking

Intelligence: Gifted (Knows how to use weapons and hack technology)

Weaknesses: None notable | Strong magnetic fields.

Trivia

• The Terminator issue #12, titled Night Convoy, marks the first physical appearance of John Connor in comics.
• John's future self in Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines has a distinct facial scar, a homage to Tom Berenger’s character in Platoon. The origin of the scar was later revealed in Terminator Salvation, where John sustained it in battle against a T-800 prototype. In Terminator: Genisys, as the T-3000, he could make the scar appear and disappear at will.
• John Connor’s zodiac sign is Pisces.
• According to James Cameron, Skynet experienced guilt over humanity's near-extinction and orchestrated the entire Future War, including John Connor’s rise to power, as a means of ultimately erasing its own existence.
• Various actors have portrayed John Connor across different adaptations:
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Edward Furlong (young John), Michael Edwards (older John), and Dalton Abbott (infant John, portrayed by Linda Hamilton’s real-life son). Furlong reprised his role in T2 3-D: Battle Across Time.
  • Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: Nick Stahl played both young and older versions of John.
  • Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Thomas Dekker played John, with John DeVito portraying an even younger version.
  • Terminator Salvation: Christian Bale played a 33-year-old John Connor, who in this timeline was not yet the Resistance leader but a Tech-Com captain under General Ashdown.
• The video game The Terminator: Dawn of Fate features an animated John Connor, voiced by Bruce DuBose.

• John Connor’s initials, "J.C.," match those of his creator, James Cameron.