11 Years Ago, The Worst Terminator Movie Robbed Sci-Fi Fans of the Best Idea Since The Originals

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Despite being widely considered the weakest film in the Terminator series, Terminator Genisys introduced what many consider to be the most creative sci-fi concept since the original James Cameron movie. Unfortunately, the film didn’t develop this idea effectively, leaving fans disappointed. Subsequent Terminator installments haven’t successfully explored this concept either, and haven’t lived up to its potential.

As a huge fan of the Terminator movies, I was really intrigued by Terminator Genisys. It’s the fifth film in the series and, after Terminator Salvation, it took things in a completely new direction. Instead of centering the story around John Connor like the previous films did, Genisys puts Kyle Reese – the original time traveler – front and center, sending him back to protect Sarah Connor. But when he arrives in the past, he quickly discovers that everything has changed – the timeline is messed up, and his mission, along with the future of the human resistance, is seriously threatened.

Matt Smith Plays A Personified Skynet In Terminator Genisys

In Terminator Genisys, Matt Smith plays a character first known as Alex. It’s later discovered that Alex is a T-5000 with Skynet’s programming inside him, essentially becoming Skynet in physical form. He uses this disguise and his power to manipulate John Connor, the leader of the resistance, and sends him back in time with the goal of establishing Genisys. What happened to this version of Skynet after the events of the film remains a mystery.

It’s surprising it took until Genisys for a Terminator movie to give Skynet a physical form. This new T-5000 finally shows us what Skynet looks like, making the overall threat feel much more real and immediate. While Skynet remains incredibly powerful and all-knowing, seeing it embodied as a T-5000 allows us to witness its capabilities firsthand.

The film’s interesting concept wasn’t fully realized. Despite Matt Smith being a well-known actor, he had very limited screen time in Terminator Genisys. Instead of being a direct threat, his character manipulated events from behind the scenes while a Terminator version of John Connor served as the primary villain in the climax. The movie missed the opportunity to show a major confrontation between the heroes and this embodiment of Skynet, and we never truly got to see the full extent of Smith’s character’s power. It’s disappointing, because the initial idea had a lot of potential.

Since Terminator: Dark Fate moved away from the idea, the franchise hasn’t revisited the concept of Skynet as a distinct personality. While Skynet remains the main villain, the interesting approach first seen in Terminator Genisys – portraying it as a character – hasn’t been used since. This feels like a missed opportunity, as that concept wasn’t fully explored in Terminator Genisys and hasn’t been revisited at all.

Why Matt Smith’s Skynet Never Returned In A Terminator Sequel

Matt Smith didn’t have much screen time in Terminator Genisys, which would have been okay if the movie had led to a sequel. But that didn’t happen. While Genisys is now largely forgotten in the Terminator series, it was originally intended to be the first film in a planned trilogy.

Before Genisys came out, plans were announced for a new Terminator trilogy, hoping to reboot the series. Two sequels were scheduled – one for May 19, 2017, and another for June 29, 2018 – and were intended to be filmed consecutively for a fast release. However, those sequels were ultimately canceled.

Despite earning $440.6 million worldwide, Terminator Genisys didn’t perform well enough at the box office to justify its $158 million production cost and planned sequels. Because of this, Paramount canceled the remaining two films in the intended trilogy in January 2016.

While not officially confirmed, it would have been logical for Matt Smith’s version of Skynet to serve as the main villain throughout the planned trilogy. Skynet is, after all, the central antagonist of the Terminator series, and Genisys showed a new interest in exploring that character. Sadly, when the trilogy was canceled, this promising storyline was dropped and never revisited in future Terminator films.

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2026-01-25 22:12