The “Terminator ”movies, ranked

Chris Snellgrove, Kevin JacobsenWed, April 15, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC

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Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in 'The Terminator'; Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day'; Christian Bale as John Connor in 'Terminator Salvation'Credit: Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty; Courtesy Everett; Timothy White/Warner Bros.

The Terminator franchise has spawned five additional films and two television shows since the first movie was released in 1984. The series began as a relatively small-scale story about a robotic assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from the future sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of a boy who would grow up to lead a rebellion and overthrow the machines.

The budget expanded significantly for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), which has since been hailed as one of the greatest movie sequels of all time. Other efforts to revive the franchise have been hit or miss, but its appeal of humanity's fight for survival remains strong, and is now more relevant than ever.

Ahead, we're ranking all six Terminator films, from the undeniable classics to the ones we'd like to prevent from happening.

01 of 06

Terminator Genisys (2015)

Emilia Clarke as Sarah Connor, Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese in 'Terminator Genisys'Credit: Melinda Sue Gordon

Terminator Genisys was, in many ways, doomed from the beginning.

Originally, the franchise was meant to continue with multiple movies following up on the future plot of Terminator Salvation. Unfortunately, that movie's tepid performance and the financial woes of the Halcyon Company meant that, instead of sequels to Salvation, we got Genisys: a half-baked attempt at rebooting the franchise.

The plot (involving an alternate timeline created by sending a T-800 — again played by Schwarzenegger — to protect Sarah Connor in the 1970s, before eventually helping her and Kyle Reese travel to the future) cynically capitalizes on previous franchise entries.

Ultimately, how you respond to this movie depends on how much you enjoy the cast. We'll admit it's satisfying to see Schwarzenegger properly return to the franchise and do new things with his iconic character. J.K. Simmons, too, is lively as a scenery-chewing detective, and Emilia Clarke does her best to breathe new life into the franchise as a young Sarah Connor. But unless you're really invested in these actors and their performances, you'll probably wish you could go back in time and stop yourself from hitting "play" on this stinker.

02 of 06

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Christian Bale as John Connor in 'Terminator Salvation'Credit: Warner Bros.

It sounds like a backhanded compliment, but one of the best things we can say about Terminator Salvation is that it tried to do something different.

Until this movie, the franchise plots were always driven by good guys and bad guys traveling back in time and doing battle in the past for control of the future. Meanwhile, sci-fi junkies seeing glimpses of an apocalyptic tomorrow clamored to have an entire movie set in that futuristic hellscape. Salvation gives us such a movie, but it comes with a real case of "be careful what you wish for."

Christian Bale is particularly disappointing as John Connor (though we'll never forget his infamous offscreen tirade). Anton Yelchin serves the story better as a younger version of Kyle Reese, who, in turn, is destined to become the protector and lover of Sarah Connor, and, weirdly enough, John Connor's father.

However, the standout performance in the film comes from Sam Worthington, who plays Marcus Wright, a strange human/Terminator hybrid. But there is only so much the cast can do to elevate a film that leans into the bombastic action and set pieces and hopes you don't notice that this plot would be too thin for a Twitch shooter video game.

03 of 06

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 and Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in 'Terminator: Dark Fate'Credit: Kerry Brown/Paramount

Despite its flaws, Terminator: Dark Fate finds the right balance of infusing familiar elements with a few surprises.

For example, this movie ignores the continuity of most of the other installments and presents itself as a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This allows for the return of franchise favorites Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton, not to mention Terminator and T2 director James Cameron (as a producer). But we also get welcome additions like Mackenzie Davis, who plays a cybernetically enhanced human who can actually go toe-to-toe with Terminators (for brief periods of time).

This mix of "something old, something new" yields some interesting results. The very presence of Schwarzenegger serves to highlight a franchise that doesn't always know when to move forward or backward. So, where does all of this leave Dark Fate? Think of it this way: The Terminator franchise should have probably stopped after T2, seeing as how these movies are stuck in an endless cycle of telling the same story. But if it's a sequel to T2 you're after, this isn't your worst option.

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04 of 06

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines'Credit: Everett Collection

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is a bit like a Rorschach test because different fans see different things in this movie every time they watch it. And whether you end up loving or hating it depends on whether you can make peace with it basically undoing the central plot of Terminator 2. We'll say this: Terminator 3 is a competent, often entertaining film.

So why is a generally good movie so divisive? First, the performances are something of a mixed bag. Schwarzenegger is pitch-perfect, and Claire Danes shines as Kate Brewster, the future wife of John Connor. But Connor himself is played by Nick Stahl, and his performance seems to have only two gears: uncertain and wigging out.

The biggest issue fans have with Terminator 3, though (and beware: spoilers ahead), is that the ending spits in the face of Terminator 2. The movie reveals that all John and Sarah Connor did in T2 was delay the apocalypse. And this leads to a truly shocking ending where our heroes fail.

It's difficult to root for John Connor as a future resistance leader when we just watched him drop the ball so spectacularly with the entire future of humanity on the line.

05 of 06

The Terminator (1984)

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in 'The Terminator'Credit: Everett Collection

There's little to say about the first Terminator movie that hasn't already been said. In addition to launching a franchise, it helped turn Cameron and Schwarzenegger, two titans of modern cinema, into household names. But what anchors The Terminator is Linda Hamilton's powerful performance as Sarah Connor, a beleaguered waitress being pursued by a merciless cyborg from the future. One of the most satisfying parts of the franchise is watching Sarah's evolution from struggling single mom to messianic figure.

Meanwhile, the charismatic Michael Biehn pairs tough-guy heroics with a tender vulnerability as Kyle Reese, the time-traveling hero sent back to protect her. Their relationship is as important to the story as any of Schwarzenegger's set pieces, thus underscoring how the The Terminator is as much a love story as it is a slice of pumped-up sci-fi.

It's to Cameron's credit that he knew how to inject the right dose of humanity into a movie about resistance fighters, time travel, and killer robots. The same goes for his compelling meditations on fate, technology, and the cost of progress. That curiosity and spark of humanity is what's missing from so many of the sequels, which tend to drown the headier aspects of the story in special effects and CGI carnage.

06 of 06

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day'Credit: A. Rapoport/Tri-Star

James Cameron's Terminator 2 is a perfect sequel. It is, in fact, one of the rare sequels that's even better than the original movie.

Part of the magic is that we see how much familiar characters have reinvented themselves. For example, Hamilton's transformation into the ultimate badass is a sight to behold — just look at those arms. Still, she remains as adept at navigating the pathos of the story as well as she does its relentless action.

Meanwhile, Schwarzenegger delivers on the OG movie's iconic "I'll be back" line by reprising his role as this futuristic murderbot. But there's a twist: He's actually a good robot reprogrammed by the human resistance to protect a young John Connor (Edward Furlong) from getting killed by the shape-shifting T-1000, a more advanced Terminator played by Robert Patrick and brought to life using cutting-edge special effects. The final result is a movie that fires on all cylinders.

Like the first Terminator, this sequel asks us to consider the destructive path humanity is on. A real gut-punch moment comes when John sees young children pretending to shoot each other using very realistic toy guns. "We're not gonna make it, are we?" he asks. "People, I mean."

Without any hesitation, the T-800 gives his answer: "It is in your nature to destroy yourselves."

This is perhaps the most prescient line of the series, prompting viewers to wonder if it's possible for any of us to truly make our own fate.

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