The Terminator Almost Got A Happy Ending
Although Sarah Connor managed to survive the events of The Terminator, it came at a cost. Kyle Reese died protecting her from the T-800, meaning that they would never grow old together and John Connor would never know his father. But this wasn't always the plan. According to co-writer and producer Gale Anne Hurd, executives were gunning for The Terminator to end on a happy note, with Kyle and Sarah still together. Hurd recalled:
So if these executives had gotten their way, once the T-800 was caught in that tanker explosion, that would have been it. The climactic scene in the factory wouldn't have gone down, and Kyle would have survived and lived his life with Sarah, presumably with no more worries about Skynet rising to power in the future. That's nice for the characters, but it doesn't make for nearly as compelling a resolution to the story.
That's exactly the thought Gale Ann Hurd and director James Cameron had, leading to them fighting to keep The Terminator's original ending intact. Luckily, they had some behind-the-scenes help with this. Continuing with her story at a Screamfest Q&A (via Slashfilm), Hurd stated:
As popular as the Terminator franchise is, it's definitely a bleak one. With the exception of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, all the movies have ended on downer notes, with audiences knowing that Skynet is either still coming or sticking around. The Terminator naturally set the tone for its follow-ups, and if things had ended well for Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese, not only would we not have seen Sarah destroy the T-800 for good with that hydraulic press, who knows if the movie would have even spawned sequels.
Fortunately, things worked out in the end for The Terminator, and seven years later, Terminator 2: Judgement Day told the next chapter of this science fiction saga. Fast-forward to now, Terminator 6 is currently shooting, but instead of following the events of Genisys, it will be a direct sequel to the first two Terminator movies. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton are reprising the T-800 and Sarah Connor, respectively, and the new cast members include Mackenzie Davis, Gabriel Luna, Natalia Reyes and Diego Boneta.
Directed by Tim Miller, Terminator 6 opens in theaters on November 15, 2019. Don't forget to look through our 2019 release schedule to learn what other movies come out next year.
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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.