*This article contains SPOILERS
When we first asked the question of “Where is John Connor?” back in 2018, it was due to the pronounced lack of visibility of a character that many fans feel is intrinsic to the Terminator franchise.
Though some have stated that the story of Terminator never really belonged to the character of John Connor; a character who has become somewhat of a ‘McGuffin’ within the series, down to the fact that the legend, spoken of with such reverence by his father (and protégé) Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) in The Terminator (1984), has never been effectively realised onscreen as an adult and therefore is “a device that drives the plot, but has no real relevance”.
We at TheTerminatorFans.com pushed for the return of mother-of-the-future Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) for ten years, as we believe that Sarah is just as important as her son, the future saviour of mankind – The emphasis is on “just as important”. It was always expected that if, and when, the baton was actually passed – it would be to John, Sarah’s son.
To us the character of John Connor has progressed (albeit with the limitation afforded the character by Hollywood), he has come a long way from the first urgent whisper, to the foetus conceived at the end of T1 and then glimpsed as General John Connor (Michael Edwards) in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, before we were introduced to the reluctant leader in the midst of rebelliously traversing his tempestuous teenage years (Edward Furlong) in that same movie.
The rumours surrounding Terminator: Dark Fate had been swirling around the presence (or lack thereof) of the legendary John Connor for some time when the leaks erupted on Reddit, leaks which, at first, we didn’t want to believe due to the ominous nature of the suggested storyline in the new Terminator movie. But with time and more information, that horrific incredulity became a numbing sense of acceptance; ‘Oh god no, it’s true’.
“This is not the future my mother warned me about”… wait, no-one was warned about this future because, that future never happened and no-one said anything about being warned by Sarah Connor, Christian Bale never happened. Christian Bale never happened!
This is beginning to look like a tangent – I can see what you’re thinking… ‘Those TerminatorFans are a bunch of rabid tin-foil-hat-wearing crazies. Don’t look them in the eyes!’.
I’ll try to get back to my original thread…
If John Connor does indeed (as per the leaks) die in the first scenes of T:DF – maybe he’s not dead at all, maybe he simply went on to live in a different reality or an alternate timeline… Maybe John Connor is now… Chris Pratt.
WTF?
Okay, Wait, let me explain.
Deadline stated that Skydance Media and Paramount Pictures’ (both studios behind Terminator: Dark Fate) new project ‘Ghost Draft’ – which is now titled ‘The Tomorrow War’ and stars Chris Pratt, is a:
Deadline
“grounded live-action science fiction film with tentpole potential.”
And that…
“Chris Pratt stars in the live-action feature, which follows a husband and father who is drafted to fight a future war in which the fate of humanity may rely on his ability to correct issues of the past.”
Deadline
Also…
David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and David Goyer are producing ‘Ghost Draft‘ – and all three are involved with Terminator: Dark Fate:
David Ellison (Skydance Media), story credit T:DF and Producer T:DF.
Dana Goldberg (Skydance Media) Executive Producer T:DF.
David Goyer story credit, screenplay credit T:DF.
HNEntertainment stated that:
HNEntertainment
“The Skydance/Paramount film sees soldiers thrust 40 years into the future to fight a war that will determine the survival of humanity.”
Okay, maybe I’m seeing patterns where there are none, maybe I’m Jim Carrey in the abysmal The Number 23… but so far the information sounds a little like a possible Terminator movie…
The question is… if Terminator: Dark Fate kills off John Connor, does that allow for Skydance to craft a John Connor-esque character in a Terminator-esque movie without too much heat from Fans upon replication?
Is ‘The Tomorrow War’ Skydance Media and Paramount Pictures sneaky way of reproducing Terminator just in case the new trilogy fails – and without paying those pesky character/story/design royalties?
Too much? Hmmm, maybe…
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