Terminator 6 was originally planned to be as a direct sequel to Terminator Genisys, and the story of the sequel would have been different from the 2019’s Terminator Dark Fate. The Terminator film franchise has been struggling to succeed at the Box-Office since James Cameron’s Terminator: Judgement Day. Terminator and Terminator: Judgement Day were filmed by James Cameron, which was widely accepted by the audiences and critics.
Terminator 3: Rise of Machines and Terminator 4: Salvation were big failures at the box-office, so Terminator Genisys was planned to start the movie franchise again, leaving out Terminator 3 & 4 as it is. With Genisys, the franchise’s team intended to restart the whole film series and brought a different story unlike that of its previous parts.
Arnold Schwarzenegger did not film as T-800 or Terminator(who is sent back in time to protect either Sarah Connor or John Connor in the first two films) in Salvation and Genisys. But a body double and CGI was used to send back in time, this time to protect young Sarah Connor in Genisys. Skynet was renamed as Genisys, which turns John Connor as a human-hybrid, aka T-3000 in the film.
The film confused the audiences with its time travel segments in the movie. The film used time travel segments to send back Kyle Reese back in time to protect young Sarah Connor. But Kyle gets launched in a different timeline than that was intended to. Here young Sarah was guarded by T-800(Arnold Schwarzenegger) protecting from T-1000. It was a soft reboot that was set in an alternate timeline.
Terminator Dark Fate Sees the Return of Arnold as T-800
Now in the sixth part of the Terminator franchise, Arnold was brought back in Terminator Dark Fate in his famous role as T-800 as the film was shot as the aftermath of Judgement Day. In the movie, Dani Ramos was to be stopped and killed as she is the key to a war waged against the terminators in the future. Rev-9, a more advanced shape-shifting Terminator, is sent to kill Dani Ramos. And Grace, a human-hybrid, is sent back from the future by the human resistance to protect Dani. A chain of events lets Grace and Dani team up with Lina Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger(T-800) to fight against Rev-9 in protecting Dani Ramos.
Why was the Genisys sequel canceled?
Terminator 3: Rise of Machines and Terminator Salvation if gone as the filmmakers thought it would go, then Dark Fate would have been a different story. The time travel sequences and alternate timeline story of the Genisys was a bit odd for the audience to believe and accept it. Also, Terminator Genisys made a gross of $440 mn, which is not a total financial disaster for Paramount Pictures, but it should have way better to keep the sequel Genisys 2 live. And the filmmakers also wanted a box-office success with the next film in the Terminator film franchise, so they turned to a sequel of Terminator 2: Judgement Day.
Terminator Dark Fate is a direct sequel to the Judgement Day which is set aftermath the incidents of Judgement Day. James Cameron returned as the producer to the Terminator 6 and also Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger are back as Sarah Connor and T-800 model 101 respectively, the sequel to Genisys was changed to Terminator Dark Fate.
Terminator Genisys should be the first of a new trilogy
In the Genisys, we saw our most iconic roles Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, played by young actors to keep the long time fans connected to the film. Not only keeping them connected, but a new TV show was also planned on Sarah Connor’s life during the production of Genisys. But due to the flop of Genisys at the box-office, the sequel to the film was also kept aside.
According to the film’s team, Genisys 2 would have the story running around with a few more alternate timelines. But as the first experiment of alternate timelines is not received well by both the audience and critics and failed at the box-office, the team stopped the production of a sequel to Genisys. If Terminator Genisys would have been a success, then there would have been two sequels to the film as Genisys 2 and Genisys 3, which would have made Terminator Genisys a beginning for a new trilogy.
What Would Genisys 2 be about
At the end of Genisys, we saw our heroes Kyle, Sarah, and Pops- upgraded version of T-800 stop the rise of “Genisys” or in older terms “Skynet.” We saw boasting new shape-shifting technology that is of T-1000 embedded into it. T-5000(who disguised himself as a human being Alex) had a small role in the Genisys, and if the sequel had been filmed, we could expect a larger and important role of T-5000 in Terminator 6. Though it was not shown clearly in the film. The screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis told io9 that T-5000 was from another timeline. Now we can expect what Genisys 2 would have been if at all it was to be made.
Terminator Dark Fate Begins With the Return of Legends
Terminator Dark Fate was a story made on the Terminator franchise’s original roots. Bringing back the legends Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the famous Terminator T-800 model 101 gave the film a high expectation. The film, as said before, was shot as a sequel to Terminator 2 Judgement Day.
At the beginning of the film Dark Fate, with CGI and a body double young John Connor and younger Arnold, were shown wherein Arnold killed the young John, aka T-800 model 101. The film then fast forwards to around 20 years later, and the story continues with Rev-9 traveling back in time to kill Dani Ramos. Grace was also sent back in time to protect Dani, who is a leader of the human resistance against the terminators in the future. As said before, older Sarah Connor and Older T-800 model 101 come to the rescue of Dani and help Grace in the rescue process.
The film still did not do well at the box-office as expected by the film’s team but got good reviews and responses from both the audiences and the critics. The film was made at an estimated budget of around $180 – $195 mn for production and another $80 – $100 mn for marketing. The movie grossed around $261 mn worldwide, making Skydance and Paramount to lose around $70 mn.
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