Terminator Already Wasted Schwarzenegger’s Best Franchise Role 15 Years Ago

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 makes a surprise appearance in Terminator: Salvation, but the film ultimately wastes the best opportunity for the character’s return. Released in 2009, six years after Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the movie sees Christian Bale take on the role of John Connor in what was supposed to serve as a soft reboot of the Terminator franchise. The film, however, which was directed by McG and also stars Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, and Bryce Dallas Howard, was met with mostly negative reviews.

While Schwarzenegger himself didn’t actually return to film new scenes as the T-800, his digital likeness is used during Terminator: Salvation‘s climactic moments. During an action-packed prisoner rescue sequence in a Skynet facility, Conner comes face-to-face with Schwarzenegger’s T-800 Terminator. The machine, which adopts the appearance of Schwarzenegger as he appeared in James Cameron’s original 1984 film, doesn’t speak, and it takes the combined power of Conner and Worthington’s Marcus to defeat it.

Terminator: Salvation Finally Made Schwarzenegger The Villain Again

But the T-800’s return was underwhelming

Although Schwarzenegger’s T-800 served as the villain in the original film, 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day brings the character back as an ally to Linda Hamilton’s Sarah Connor. The character appeared again as more of a hero in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. The 2009 soft reboot marks the only time since the original film that Schwarzenegger’s T-800 has been presented as a villain, but the film doesn’t capitalize on this.

In Terminator: Salvation, the T-800 is presented as a formidable opponent for John and Marcus, but its appearance is ultimately more of an elongated digital cameo. Instead of being made an integral part of the story, just as it was in the 1984 film, the T-800 feels tacked onto the end as more of an Easter egg. Terminator: Salvation is one of the worst-reviewed entries in the franchise, and the T-800’s villainous return is deserving of a stronger film.

Terminator Keeping Schwarzenegger As A Hero Was A Missed Opportunity

The T-800 deserved another Terminator franchise return as a villain

Since Terminator: Salvation, there have been two new installments in the franchise: the lackluster Terminator Genisys in 2015 and the better-reviewed Terminator: Dark Fate in 2019. Schwarzenegger returned in the flesh for both of these movies, but he once again served as more of a hero character. Neither of these films was able to totally recapture the magic of the first two installments, however, and returning to the franchise’s roots by once again making Schwarzenegger’s T-800 a villain would have been a great way to subvert audience expectations.

It’s currently unclear what’s next for the Terminator franchise, but Schwarzenegger has confirmed that he’s retired as the T-800. Unless the character is resurrected digitally again, this means that Terminator: Salvation is seemingly the last time audiences will see Schwarzenegger’s T-800 as a villain. There are certainly elements of the 2009 film to admire, but it’s ultimately a lackluster sendoff for one of the most iconic movie villains of all time.