While Denzel Washington may have seemed foolhardy to turn down a Terminator franchise role, the actor was right to decide that one Terminator 2: Judgment Day part would not forward his career. It can’t be easy for movie stars to determine which projects they should pursue and which title they are too busy to commit to. Famously, Will Smith wished he could have taken on the role of Neo in The Matrix in retrospect since the actor had no idea how huge the franchise would prove to be in years to come.
However, the outcome can be equally terrible when stars try to reshape a role to work for them. Christian Bale’s original Terminator: Salvation role was the part of Marcus Wright, a fascinating fusion of man and machine who couldn’t comprehend his own existence, but the actor’s choice to take on the role of John Connor instead ended up changing the movie’s script and ultimately resulting in the project’s weak critical reception. With this in mind, it is understandable that Denzel Washington opted not to take a minor role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day despite the success of the sci-fi action sequel.
Per the actor’s recollection, Denzel Washington turned down the part of Skynet’s original creator Miles Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgment Day because, without any disrespect to director James Cameron, “all this guy does is look scared and sweat.” That is a pretty accurate summation of a role that is essential to the franchise’s lore but not particularly vital to the specific plot of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The sequel’s first draft had a bigger role for Dyson, but the character’s memorably terrifying nightmare sequence ended up being cut due to budget issues, further reaffirming that Washington was right in his assumption that the role was not one that he would regret missing out on.
Who Played Miles Dyson In Terminator 2: Judgment Day?
Joe Morton, who also appeared in Zack Synder’s Justice League as Silas Stone, ended up taking the part. Despite the Terminator series being one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, Washington was right to turn down the role because this freedom allowed the actor to continue his staggering late 80s—early 90s acting credits run. Washington went on to release Glory, Mo’ Better Blues, Malcolm X, The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia, and Crimson Tide in quick succession, while Cameron’s changing plans for the Terminator movies meant that Dyson’s role ended up trimmed down in the film’s finished edit anyway.
That said, Morton’s career hardly suffered for his part in the sequel. Before Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he had been a favorite actor of political satirist/screenwriter John Sayle, while after the sequel, he appeared in blockbusters like Ali and Speed and critically acclaimed projects like American Gangster and Apt Pupil. As such, not only was Washington right not to lose momentum with a small role in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but his decision to turn down the Terminator franchise part ended up aiding the career of another actor in the process.
