How Does Terminator Zero Fit into the Franchise’s Timeline?

Warning: Terminator Zero spoilers

In 2024, Netflix It was launched. Destroyer Zero On August 29, which is also the Day of Judgment in the universe. The destroyer Distinction in both 1984 The destroyer and 1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Destroyer: Zero It is the second television series based on the popular science fiction franchise after the live-action miniseries. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Memoirs The latest film in the series, which was released five years after the sixth film, Destroyer: Dark Fate.

the The destroyer This film series is based on time travel, and because of this, it has a complex and sometimes intertwined timeline. Films like Terminator 3: Judgment Day, Terminator: Genesisand Destroyer: Dark Fate They all contradict each other and represent three different possible alternative sequels to Terminator 2: Judgment Day Due to the franchise changing hands resulting in changing plans over the decades. Destroyer Zero Attempts to tie all the previous movies and TV shows together.similar to how Alien: Romulus Ties all entries in this franchise together. Destroyer ZeroThe new timeline and time travel rules completely change the game. The destroyer The franchise as fans know it while cleaning up some of the mess that has happened over the years.

Terminator Zero takes place in the original timeline and the new timeline at the same time.

Destroyer Zero The events take place in two different timelines.one in Japan on August 29, 1997, and the other in 2022, where humanity is fighting against Skynet. The story in Japan in 1997 is significant because it is August 28 in California, the day before Doomsday, which was established in both The destroyer and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

In episode four, Skynet launches its missiles, and it seems that doomsday is beginning. The audience knows Terminator 2: Judgment Day John Connor, his mother Sara, and the T-800 prevented Doomsday in 1995. This suggests that Destroyer: Zero It is part of the original timeline where Skynet was launched and destroyed the planet.This in turn led to an adult John Connor sending his friend Kyle Reese into the past to protect his mother, ultimately causing John to be born, who would then prevent Doomsday from being triggered in the first place. Destroyer Zero In theory it would serve as an introduction to The destroyerAs it was in the original timeline before John changed it in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. but, Destroyer Zero It introduces a new wrinkle that suggests it's not a prequel or a reboot but instead a sequel that deviates from the timeline..

This schedule is from Destroyer Zero It's very different from what fans have seen before, as Skynet is unleashed and doomsday occurs, but only partially. Skynet appears to have been shut down for now. Meanwhile, humanity is left to deal with the two AI powers, with some humans hinting at joining Skynet's side while others join Kokoro. Destroyer Zero The events appear to take place in a timeline where Skynet was launched on August 29, 1997, but it shows an alternate event from the movies. How does this work in The destroyer Well, that timeline has already been changed.

Terminator Zero timeline has been modified.

The big surprise in the penultimate episode is that the timeline has actually been changed.. world Malcolm Lee is actually from the future where Skynet nearly destroyed humanity.which was seen in 1984. The destroyerBorn in 2025, about four years before John Connor sent Kyle Reese into the past, in 2045 he created Misaki, a machine made with a blank consciousness, removing the specific logic from Skynet's programming schemes, allowing her to create her own identity and, essentially, granting her free will. Malcolm hopes this will make her a bridge between humans and machines.

However, the other resistance fighters were unable to accept Misaki, and thus, Malcolm and Misaki travel to 1983 in hopes of creating a better future/timeline, one that is more technologically advanced.Masaki gives up her CPU to Malcolm to activate Kokoro. Kokoro was created to prevent doomsday, and the ultimate goal was to bridge the gap between humans and machines. Instead of humans destroying machines or machines destroying humans, the goal was to build a peaceful future between the two.

Feeling confused? Well, the time travel mechanics of the series help clear that up, while also cleaning up the mess left behind by the movies and revealing the series' biggest surprise.

Terminator Zero rewrites the rules of the franchise's timeline

in The destroyer, Time travel is presented as cyclical.It's a closed loop. Skynet sends the T-800 back to kill Sarah Connor before she can give birth to Resistance leader John, but John then sends Kyle Reese back to protect her. Reese and Sarah bond, resulting in her becoming pregnant with John. Meanwhile, the Terminator is destroyed by Sarah, but the remaining arm is discovered and studied, creating Skynet itself. Skynet's actions to kill John Connor before he is born leads to the creation of Skynet itself. The cycle was broken in Terminator 2: Judgment Day When Skynet is shut down.

However, since then, the franchise has had several sequels with the basic idea that Doomsday has only been postponed and that John and Sarah have only delayed the inevitable. Future releases say that Skynet will be released in 2004 (Terminator 3: Judgment Day), 2011 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles), and 2017 (Genesis Destroyer), and in one, they stop Skynet, but Doomsday still happens under the watch of a new AI known as Legion in the 2020s (Destroyer: Dark Fate). Meanwhile, Destroyer Zero It shows that Doomsday could happen in 1997, but with a different outcome.

Destroyer Zero He exploits this idea of ​​different resurrection days and offers a new interpretation that links them all together: each The destroyer Stories after Terminator 2: Judgment Dayincluded Destroyer Zeroin a different reality branching off from the same point in the timeline.This was explained in detail in the second episode of Destroyer Zero“Skynet has sent a Terminator into the past,” The Prophet says. “In doing so, it has created a new timeline. The window to follow won’t be open for long.” This is further explored during episode six when The Prophet explains how time travel works. She draws a yellow line and explains that people move along it in a linear path, but when you travel through time, it’s different. She says:

When you go back in time, you go to

A
past
no

the
past.
“The point in time you travel to and the point you come from are two different timelines… The point in time you travel to and the point you come from are two different timelines. In every instance of time travel, every time someone steps foot inside one of these machines, all they've really done is swap one reality for another.”

This means that throughout the franchise, Whenever someone travels through time, they create a new timeline of events that branch out from that point.When someone travels from the future to the past, they arrive in an alternate timeline to the future they came from. This means that Kyle Reese, the T-800, and Grace are in Destroyer: Dark FateAnd now Echo in Destroyer: Zero These beings land in timelines that do not lead to the future they belong to, but open up new paths that they can change. The idea of ​​alternate branching timelines was first proposed in Genesis Destroyer But it is made more clear here. Terminator Zero Now he proves how everyone can exist without having to line up, which honors the ultimate message of T2There is no destiny but what we make of it.

Terminator movie timeline

with Destroyer Zero Now alternate timelines are being established consistently. The destroyer It can be difficult to keep track of which movies and events are related to each other due to time travel rules. Here's a handy guide to the eight timelines in The destroyer Privilege. All timelines branch off from events. The destroyer and Q2: The Day of Resurrection With exception Destroyer Zerowhich seems to have come about solely from The Terminator and is branching out without The Destroyer 2.

• Original timeline — Skynet is launched, wiping out most of humanity. John Connor becomes a hero of the resistance and sends Kyle Reese back in time to protect his mother, Sarah Connor, from a Terminator in 1984. The Terminator arm left behind is studied, implying that Skynet is creating itself and creating itself.
• Destroyer/Destroyer 2 Timeline — John, Sarah, and the T-800 manage to stop the Skynet launch, creating a new future from the original timeline.
• T2: Battle Through Time —The Universal Studios attraction created by James Cameron features the T-800 and John Connor heading into the future to destroy Skynet once and for all, creating the first alternate timeline that ends in T2.
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines/Terminator Salvation — Judgment Day was postponed to July 25, 2004, and Skynet was launched. John Connor and his wife, Katherine Brewster, led the resistance, while Skynet transformed Marcus Wright into an advanced new Terminator that John Connor was not prepared for.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Memoirs — Judgment Day is pushed back to 2011, and John and Sarah are transported into the future to 2007. In this timeline, Sarah Connor is also being treated for the cancer she died of in The Destroyer 3/Destroyer: Salvation Timeline.
• Genesis Destroyer —When John Connor sends Kyle Reese into the past to rescue Sarah Connor, Kyle ends up in a timeline where the T-800 is protecting Sarah Connor, changing the future and now Skynet will be released in 2017 as an app called Genisys.
• Destroyer: Dark Fate — Skynet was successfully defeated, but the Terminator that was actually sent to kill John Connor found it and terminated it. In Skynet's place, an artificial intelligence called Legion was created and activated Doomsday sometime in the 2020s.
• Destroyer Zero —After witnessing previous attempts to travel back in time to kill/save someone from the past, Malcolm Lee travels to the future in 1983 with Misaki to prevent the launch of Skynet in hopes of bridging the gap between humans and machines. Skynet was launched in the original Doomsday on August 29, 1997, but a second AI, Kokoro, was also launched and attacked Skynet.

This is how it works Destroyer Zero Fits wider The destroyer Timeline. Malcolm Lee traveled back in time from the original future he had glimpsed in The destroyer He created an entirely new timeline, hoping to bridge the gap between humans and machines to create a peaceful future. A new path was set with a new future on the horizon as the characters and franchise navigated an unknown future.