10 Insane Movie Moments You Couldn't Believe Directors Actually Went There

10. Ed Furlong Returns As John Connor... Just To Get Immediately Terminated

When it was announced by producer James Cameron that Ed Furlong would be returning to the Terminator franchise for 2019's Terminator: Dark Fate, many were eager to see Furlong back as the saviour of mankind, John Connor.

Frustratingly, Furlong's return to the series was merely to do one day's worth of motion capture work in order for movie magic to create an accurate John for a flashback sequence to 1998 - three years after the events of T2: Judgment Day.

Within less than two minutes of Dark Fate's runtime, John Connor was dead.

For long-time fans of T2 and of Furlong, it was a gut punch to see the 13-year-old John fatally gunned down at a Guatemalan beach hut by a T-800 unit. After waiting 18 years to see Furlong back in a role that had also been taken on by Nick Stahl, Thomas Dekker, Christian Bale and Jason Clarke, this was such a letdown as Dark Fate did what appeared to be the unthinkable.

Since the first Terminator movie in 1984, audiences had been conditioned that the adult John Connor is the person who leads humanity in its war against Skynet. As such, John's death simply wasn't possible in the established narrative of the franchise.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 15th Feb 2022

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