5 Reasons Why They’ve Never Recaptured The Magic Of Terminator
1. The Same Characters Again And Again, And Also Again
Withstanding the fleeting clips of older/younger incarnations, we have seen three Kyle Reeses, three Sarah Connors, and a whopping five different John Connors across the franchise, with only one actor perceived to be the definitive playing them in each case. Why in a sci-fi setting that encompasses the fate of the entire humanity do we constantly have to gravitate towards the same heroine, her misguided son, and her troubled knight-in-dusty-trench-coat from the future over and over?
Surely there must be several other, and arguably more interesting characters occupying the same world that we never get to see?
The ultimate downfall of everything post-T2 is the mish-mash of multiple Sarah/John timelines all clambering to be stated as the definitive one before being rendered obsolete by the next film or series along the way. And it's still happening! Latest case in point: The upcoming Terminator 6, the Terminator film that intends to assassinate the narrative of everything that came after Terminator 2. Might be a good idea to ditch the "6" then!
Sure, everyone may be happy to see dueling Game of Thrones queens Emilia Clarke and Leana Heady giving the role of Sarah Connor back to Linda Hamilton. But that in turn only serves to undermine the separate efforts they put into the role, right?
This would never have been a problem if some other avenues had been explored instead. Consider the success of 'little-people' spin-offs in big franchises, such as Rouge One, or the Agents of Shield and Defenders TV shows occurring on the fringe of the MCU movies. Create a world and watch it fill up.
Make a franchise that lasts over 30 years and populate it with less characters than you can count on both hands and its fate could truly be to slowly sink in a vat of lava with an outstretched, and tragically optimistic, thumbs-up.