Terminator 3 is strangely one of the few Terminator films that actually present itself as a direct sequel to its predecessor, even though the 2003 movie wrote off Sarah Connor and recast John as an adult. Still, the film builds up from the events of T2 and sees John Connor living a regular life in a timeline where Judgment Day was prevented – or at least they thought so. Terminator 3 reuses many of the same story beats from T2, including Schwarzenegger playing a reprogramed Terminator and Skynet sending a more advanced model, but it also introduces a big new concept.

Terminator 3’s Ending Revealed Judgment Day Could Not Be Stopped

John, Sarah, And The T-800 Only Postponed Judgment Day In T2

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ends with John and Kate learning that Skynet was not trying to wipe out the virus, it was the virus itself. The future leaders of the Resistance were not standing on Skynet’s core as they thought but rather on a nuclear shelter. It is revealed that Skynet never had a mainframe that could be hacked or destroyed, with the AI being instead spread across countless devices around the world. In other words, Judgment Day could not be stopped, and all that John and Sarah did in T2 was postpone it.

Considering that Terminator 2 was all about protecting John Connor and stopping Skynet, the fact that Rise of the Machines ended with the reveal that it was impossible to prevent the nuclear holocaust from happening was surprising. Terminator 3 has arguably the bleakest ending of all Terminator movies. While John and Kate survive, it becomes clear that the war between humans and Skynet is bound to happen no matter what. Not only did this change the first two Terminator movies in hindsight, but it also set the stage for future sequels to play with the inevitability of Judgment Day.

Terminator 3’s Judgment Day Twist Made The Movie Better In Hindsight

Terminator 3 Ended On A Bleak Note That Changed The Series Forever

While a bad ending can ruin a movie, a strong ending can sometimes make the film better in retrospect. Terminator 3 is nowhere near as good as the first Terminator movies and lacks the creativity and intensity of the James Cameron movies. The threequel, which was the first Terminator project Cameron was not involved with, limited itself to rehash the story beats from Terminator 2, this time with John Connor’s future wife being Skynet’s target. Even the comic moments featuring Schwarzenegger felt like lesser versions of the T-800’s hilarious interactions with John in T2.

Terminator 3 also didn’t have any particularly impressive visuals, which puts into perspective how impressive T2, which came out more than a decade prior, was in that regard. With all those problems, it would’ve been difficult to point out one major redeemable quality about Terminator 3 had it not been for its ending. Wrapping up the film with the horrifying reveal that humanity is doomed to destroy itself and enter a war against Skynet was a clever decision that made Terminator 3 feel more impactful than it should have been when considering what the rest of the film delivered.

Terminator Has Sticked To Terminator 3’s Judgment Day Twist (Despite Ignoring The Movie)

Judgment Day Has Been Inevitable In Every Terminator Project Since Terminator 3

None of the Terminator movies and TV shows released after Rise of the Machines consider it to be canon, yet they all somewhat stuck to the film’s Judgment Day twist. In of canon, Terminator 3 never had an actual sequel. Terminator: Salvation was a somewhat standalone film that tried to work within what the previous movies had established but took place in the future John Connor experienced, whereas Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles specifically disregarded the events of Rise of the Machines to tell its own version of what happened after T2.

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The same thing applies to recent Terminator films, with Terminator: Dark Fate particularly ignoring everything that came after T2. However, all of those movies adhered to Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' idea that Judgment Day cannot be stopped, only postponed. Skynet – or at least a version of it – has gone online and turned against humans in every iteration of the story since 2003. Terminator Zero, Netflix’s Terminator anime, even acknowledged this by establishing that humans and Skynet had been on an endless loop caused by their access to time travel.

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Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

R

Action

Thriller

Science Fiction

7.5/10

Release Date

July 2, 2003

Runtime

109 minutes

Director

Jonathan Mostow

Writers

John Brancato, Michael Ferris, Gale Anne Hurd, James Cameron, Tedi Sarafian

Producers

Andrew G. Vajna, Dieter Nobbe, Gale Anne Hurd, Guy East, Hal Lieberman, Joel B. Michaels, Mario Kassar, Matthias Deyle, Moritz Borman, Nigel Sinclair, Volker Schauz, Aslan Nadery

Cast

See All

• 
  Arnold Schwarzenegger

  The Terminator
• 
  Nick Stahl

  John Connor

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines sees John Connor living off the grid ten years after averting Judgment Day. The film introduces the T-X, a new robotic assassin, which forces Connor to forces once again with his former adversary, the Terminator, to combat the looming Skynet threat.

Studio(s)

Intermedia, C2 Pictures

Distributor(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Main Genre

Action

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