How to watch the “Terminator ”movies in order (chronological and release date)
- - How to watch the “Terminator ”movies in order (chronological and release date)
Declan GallagherJanuary 1, 2026 at 6:00 AM
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Orion/Everett; TriStar Pictures/Everett; Richard Foreman Jr./Warner Bros./Everett
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, and Christian Bale in multiple generations of 'Terminator'
With its explosive debut in 1984, The Terminator launched one of the biggest franchises of all time. Not bad for a low-budget, slasher-tinged sci-fi noir from a then-unknown director. (James Cameron, ever heard of him?)
Blending relentless action with thought-provoking ideas about technology, the series continues to captivate audiences more than 40 years after its debut. By this point, the franchise includes six films — plus TV shows and expanded media, not included here — that have the pesky habit of tinkering with the timeline. As such, getting a handle on the series’ chronology can be tricky.
At its core, the saga revolves around a battle between mankind and Skynet, a self-aware artificial intelligence system bent on wiping out the human race. The humans, for their part, don’t go without a fight, even after a nuclear apocalypse wipes out most of them. The machines’ endgame strategy involves Terminators: cybernetic assassins they send back in time in order to stop the future Resistance from happening.
In the first film, the target is Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton); in the second, it’s her son John, the future leader of the Resistance.
Arnold Schwarzenegger — Mr. Universe legend and erstwhile Conan the Barbarian — hit a new level of fame as the cold, mostly silent villain in the original film. When the sequel came around, he was reprogrammed as not just a protective hero, but a benevolent father figure to the humans’ last great hope.
Watching the franchise in order helps contextualize the evolution of its labyrinthine mythology, which in recent years has been dramatically reworked twice, by ostensibly competing sequels, Genisys and Dark Fate. This guide will break down both the films’ chronological and release order. You can decide which path into the future is right for you.
01 of 06
The Terminator (1984)
Orion Pictures Corporation/ Everett
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'The Terminator,' the role that made him a legend
In Cameron’s seminal piece of franchise kindling, a human-disguised cybernetic android (or, Terminator) is sent back from 2029 to 1984 with a mission to kill Sarah Connor. Which one? Well, all of them in the Los Angeles area, just to be safe.
As it turns out, Sarah is, in essence, a fall gal. Her son is the real target. The only problem? She doesn’t have a son (yet). As the handsome, trenchcoat-clad stranger Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) explains to Sarah — once he’s rescued her from the T-800’s laser-sighted bullets, for the first but not last time — she will have a son. His name will be John, and he will grow up to be the last possible savior of humanity, leading the fight against the machines in the wake of a nuclear war caused by Skynet.
Of course, this Terminator will not stop until it has completed its mission. It’s up to Reese — sent back in time by John himself — to make sure that relentless killing machine fails, thereby ensuring humans have a fighting chance for survival, decades later.
Where to watch The Terminator: Netflix
02 of 06
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
TriStar Pictures/ Everett
Robert Patrick's T-1000 hunts down a young John Connor in 'Terminator 2'
A lot has happened since we last left off. That innocent, soft-spoken Sarah Connor we knew before? She’s long gone. Something changes in you when you discover humanity is about to be wiped out that your unborn child is the one destined to save it.
So what do you do? You become a soldier. A weapon. You sound the alarm. You warn everyone. And… to everyone else, you sound like a crazy person. Cameron’s sequel finds Sarah incarcerated at Pescadero State Hospital, an institution for the criminally insane. Her son, John (Edward Furlong) — a devil-may-care pre-teen with a rap sheet, a dirt bike, and plenty of criminal know-how — lives with a foster family in the suburbs.
He soon learns that his mom’s seemingly paranoid ramblings about the end of the world are all too true. This time, Skynet has sent an even more advanced machine — the T-1000 (Robert Patrick), made of nigh-indestructible liquid metal — to take him out once and for all. The Resistance again sends its own counterpart: a modified T-800 (Schwarzenegger, in a twisty face turn) to protect John.
T2 helped set the template for modern blockbusters, upping the ante from the first movie’s small-scale thriller mode into a full-on action extravaganza. It’s roundly considered the best installment in the franchise, and one of Cameron’s finest movies.
Where to watch Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Netflix
03 of 06
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Warner Brothers/ Everett
Kristanna Loken vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger in terminator-on-terminator action in 'Rise of the Machines'
Twelve years after T2, Jonathan Mostow’s sequel pulled an Alien 3 and did away with most of the franchise’s best elements. Gone is Sarah Connor, unceremoniously killed off-screen. Furlong is gone as well, replaced by Nick Stahl as a grown-up John Connor, who’s gone into hiding from Skynet along with his fiancée, Kate (Claire Danes).
Schwarzenegger returns, once again in hero-protector-dad mode, but this time doing battle with the T-X (Kristanna Loken), a shape-shifting Terminator sent back from the future to kill John and put an end to the Resistance. Say what you will about the machines, but they don’t give up.
Terminator 3’s big contribution to the franchise (aside from one great extended car chase) is that it clarifies the timeline set forth by the first two films. The cataclysmic event meant to take place in 1997 never occurred — largely due to the interventions of Sarah, John, and the T-800 in T2. Then again, there are still Terminators from the future running around, so there’s something coming around the corner.
We won't spoil the final developments too explicitly, but it stands to reason that Judgment Day wasn’t prevented, just simply postponed.
Where to watch Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: Not currently available to stream
04 of 06
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Richard Foreman Jr./Warner Bros./Everett
Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in 'Terminator Salvation'
Who remembers anything about Terminator Salvation other than Christian Bale’s alleged on-set meltdown? Directed by McG, this was one of a string of attempts to revitalize the franchise. It's the only installment not to feature Schwarzenegger (he was Governor of California at the time), though he pops up in some dodgy CGI near the end.
It's also the only film in the franchise set primarily during the post-apocalyptic war between humans and machines. Judgment Day happened in 2004, killing billions. Salvation picks up in 2018, with John Connor (Bale) having grown into a gruff revolutionary. Then we have Skynet’s secret plan: a former death-row inmate named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), merged with machine to become the world’s first human-Terminator hybrid. Marcus has been commissioned (not entirely with his knowledge) to assassinate John and Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin).
None of it really sticks, and when all is said and done, it doesn't make such sense either.
Where to watch Terminator Salvation: Amazon Prime (to rent)
05 of 06
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Kerry Brown/Paramount/Everett
Yes, robots can grow old, too. Arnold Schwarzenegger is (wait for it) BACK in 'Dark Fate'
Dark Fate is probably the best Terminator sequel since T2, though that’s admittedly thin praise. The big triumph is the return of Linda Hamilton in this late-era franchise installment, which functions as yet another timeline reinvention.
Taking a page from the 2018 Halloween playbook, Dark Fate retcons everything that happened after T2 as a way of decluttering the narrative and returning key original characters (well, except John, who was gunned down as a teenager in this timeline).
An evil AI known as Legion sends a Rev-9 (Gabriel Luna) back from 2042 to 2020 to assassinate future Resistance figure Dani Ramos (Natalia Reyes). That ever-helpful Resistance once again steps in, sending a human-robot hybrid, Grace (Mackenzie Davis), to fend off the Rev-9. In the process, they’re offered assistance by Sarah, who enlists her old friend, Schwarzenegger’s greybeard T-800, to take out the advanced AI threat.
Tim Miller’s sequel marks the first time in 28 years that Hamilton and Schwarzenegger shared the screen. Thankfully, it’s a well-gauged, emotionally honest chapter that does right by the franchise’s ideals.
Where to watch Terminator: Dark Fate: Paramount+
06 of 06
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Melinda Sue Gordon/Paramount Pictures/Everett
Emilia Clarke and Arnold Schwarzenegger try to make sense of the plot of 'Genisys'
Directed by prestige TV vet Alan Taylor (The Sopranos, Game of Thrones), this is a bummer attempt at a reboot — or retcon, or remix, or something. But at least we have Schwarzenegger back in the title role.
Genisys tries to make up for its lack of original ideas by resetting the entire timeline, sorta-kinda remaking the 1984 original before pivoting to a bombastic modern-day follow-through.
Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) is sent back from 2029 to 1984 to save Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) from Schwarzenegger’s T-800. But the T-800 meets his match in Pops (also Schwarzenegger), a decidedly more benevolent model who sticks around to help Kyle and Sarah as they travel to San Francisco, circa 2017, to defeat Skynet. There, they meet Kyle’s mentor, John Connor (Jason Clarke), who… well, the less said of this John Connor, the better.
True to its spelling, Genisys is confusing as hell. It’s also loud, dumb, and rightly stands on its own within the franchise — for bad reasons.
Where to watch Terminator Genisys: Paramount+
How to watch the Terminator franchise in chronological order: -
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Terminator Genisys (2015)
How to watch the Terminator franchise in release order: -
The Terminator (1984)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
Terminator Salvation (2009)
Terminator Genisys (2015)
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
