Summary

• Terminator Zero is tied to Terminator 2: Judgment Day, taking place in 1997 with a direct connection to T2's timeline.
• Adhering to T2's timeline is crucial for Terminator Zero after so many sequels, prequels, and reboots.
• Terminator Zero's ties to T2 make it an exciting prospect, and it could turn out to be the best entry in the franchise since 1991.

Netflix’s Terminator Zero, an anime series set in the world of Terminator, has a Judgment Day connection that makes it even more exciting. One of the most exciting Terminator projects in years, Terminator: Dark Fate, Terminator Zero will bring the franchise back to the small screen 15 years after Terminator 7’s status still unclear, an animated series featuring brand-new characters could be exactly what the franchise needs. The Batman: Part II writer Mattson Tomlin Skydance, Skydance, and Production I.G. are behind the show.

Netflix has released great original animated series recently, including but not limited to Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, all of which suggest Terminator Zero could be great. The animation media suits science fiction perfectly and can allow Terminator to tell stories the movies never did. The fact that Terminator Zero already has a direct connection to T2, the best Terminator movie, is also promising news for the series.

Terminator Zero Is Tied To Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Terminator Zero is referencing the original Judgment Day date

Not much has been revealed about Terminator Zero’s plot, but the series already has a couple of Terminator 2: Judgment Day connections. Firstly, Netflix’s Terminator Zero will be released on August 29, 2024, which is a callback to the date of Judgment Day as presented in Terminator 2 – August 29, 1997. Terminator Zero will take place in 1997, two years after the events of T2 and in the same year Judgment Day was supposed to happen in the original timeline. Setting the story in 1997 is no coincidence, and it shows that Netflix’s Terminator show is sticking to the timeline presented in T2.

Whether names like Sarah Connor and the T-800 will appear remains to be seen.

Even Netflix’s Terminator Zero announcement, which revealed the show’s first official synopsis, referenced Terminator 2: Judgment Day and how successful the movie was in 1991. Between the T2 callbacks and the timeline, Terminator Zero appears to be a direct sequel to Judgment Day, although the concept of sequels and prequels can be tricky in a franchise whose timeline is so confusing. It must be noted that all of the confirmed Terminator Zero characters so far are original creations, meaning they were not in the movies. Whether names like Sarah Connor and the T-800 will appear remains to be seen.

Adhering To Terminator 2’s Timeline Is The Right Call For Terminator Zero

There have been many Judgment Days in Terminator

Although Terminator Zero’s timeline may seem like a small detail, adhering to the chronology of events established in Terminator 2 is the right call for the anime series. Judgment Day has happened on a lot of different days throughout Terminator’s history, from changes made by the characters to new timelines and reboots. August 29, 1997, is the first concrete date for Judgment Day revealed in the franchise. After Sarah, John, and the T-800 stopped the T-1000 in 1995, Judgment Day was moved to 2004, at least according to Rise of the Machines.

In The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator’s only TV show before Terminator Zero, Judgment Day has been moved to 2011 – the series ignores the events of Rise of the Machines. Some of Terminator: Salvation’s expanded material establishes that Judgment Day happens in 2003, whereas others say it is in 2004. In Terminator: Genysis’ all-new timeline, Judgment Day is expected to happen in 2017. Lastly, in Dark Fate, which ignores everything that came after T2, Judgment Day is said to happen in the 2020s. After so many changes and reboots, going back to the original Judgment Day date is the right decision.

Terminator Zero’s T2 Connections Make It Even More Exciting

Terminator 2 is the best Terminator movie after all

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is not only the best Terminator movie but also one of the greatest action films of all time. None of the Terminator movies released after 1991 managed to combine the action and sci-fi elements of the franchise as well as T2 did, which is frustrating considering how great the saga’s first two films were. Rise of the Machines was an uninspired sequel that fell flat compared to its predecessor, whereas Terminator: Salvation wasted an interesting premise with a convoluted, poorly balanced movie that almost killed the Terminator franchise forever.

Genisys and Dark Fate both tried to be new beginnings for the series, and neither of them succeeded at it. After so many movie failures, Terminator Zero sounds more exciting than Terminator 7. The animated series can do things the live-action movies never did while also staying truthful to the franchise’s origins, particularly the first two films. If Terminator Zero lives up to its Terminator 2: Judgment Day connections, it could end up being the best entry in the Terminator franchise since the groundbreaking 1991 film.