The character of John Connor is one that has been dealt with badly in the world of movie making.
The first time we ever saw John Connor in the movies was holding a pair of binoculars as he watched over a battle of the resistance vs the machines in a future war environment in the year 2029. A scarred man in his 40s, with a steel glaze in his eyes, similar to his enemies... The Terminators!
The next time we see him,- we go back in time to the 90s when he is an 10 year old Edward Furlong being protected by a good T-800. Then we catch up with an older Connor played by Nick Stahl and then a few years later he has morphed into Christian Bale.
Is John Connor really a T-1000? No but the mythos of John Connor has been harmed by film makers.
EDWARD FURLONG:
Edward Furlong did not return to Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines for a good reason... His image, his drug taking and his personal troubles which over the years still gain media attention.
Lately it has been good to see Edward repairing his career and being able, to some extent, to keep the camera out of his ass at least a little.
Is Edward available? Can he get in shape for such a role? He would have to make some major changes in his life to be able to pull this off.
He is still a fan favorite however and has a cult following of mainly teenage girls.
He was a good John Connor and starred as John twice in the movie then the ride at Universal Studios.
NICK STAHL:
In came Nick Stahl, in the studio's eye, a sturdy actor, he also hit child star status (as did Edward Furlong) with "the man without a face" starring opposite Mel Gibson.
Nick is a great actor who makes alot of strong movies but came under critcism for his portrayal of John Connor in the third Terminator production. People seem to dislike the idea of John Connor being a whiney, no balls character, however this is the fault of the script.
The same writers of T3 returned to Terminator Salvation. If they let these guys write the next movie we will certainly consider a boycott. The storyline is certainly now damaged, John Connor's age has been wrong and the main excuse for mistakes and (quite honestly) sh*t writing by 2 lazy people has led to the excuse being used that this is down to "shifting timelines & alternate dimensions of time travel". How arrogant do you have to be to think you have the right to change the details cemented in the two installments before? Demented, they are not fans or decent writers but they were allowed to work on two Terminator movies... !?!
Nick Stahl would like to come back and stated in a recent interview:
“['Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'] was a blast. I love that character, that story and the mythology of that franchise. It wasn't my choice to not be in the fourth one.”
In regard to Terminator 5 and a possible return by Schwarzenegger?
“I would definitely jump at the opportunity if it came my way,”
Nick has a new movie out and it is getting positive feedback but it has not obviously been easy escaping the mess of T3 even if it was fun to work on and some people enjoyed it, it did let the hardcore fans down completely.
CHRISTIAN BALE:
By the time we reach the year of 2018, John Connor is now Christian Bale and is walking around with some serious firepower on the trail of the machines but wait... the 2 idiot writers for the 3rd Terminator movie have written this one too!
Originally John Connor was meant to have little involvement in Terminator Salvation until the end battle. Christian Bale was offered the role of Marcus Wright and demanded that he have the role of John Connor, he then stipulated that if he was to star in the movie that the script needed revising completely to have John Connor in the central role (as it should have been in the first place).
Due to bad writing (again) another good actor such as Christian takes a few punches from the angry crowds of fans. Some fans liked Christian some didn't.
WHO SHOULD PLAY JOHN CONNOR?
All 3 of these actors are good actors. Edward Furlong had the best script to work with. Stahl and Bale both did a good job of salvaging what they could from the under-developed John Connor's in the 3rd and 4th movies.
The crowd is mixed. Some people want Eddie back, some Stahl and the others Bale.
We seriously advise that only one of these 3 actors should be John Connor in the next movie. Another actor change would seriously compromise the story. If a total change was on the cards; a switch back would be more of a wise choice.
So who do you want to play John Connor in the next Terminator movie? Bale, Furlong or Stahl?
The character of John Connor is one that has been dealt with badly in the world of movie making.
Edward Furlong did not return to Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines for a good reason... His image, his drug taking and his personal troubles which over the years still gain media attention.
In came Nick Stahl, in the studio's eye, a sturdy actor, he also hit child star status (as did Edward Furlong) with "the man without a face" starring opposite Mel Gibson. 
By the time we reach the year of 2018, John Connor is now Christian Bale and is walking around with some serious firepower on the trail of the machines but wait... the 2 idiot writers for the 3rd Terminator movie have written this one too!
