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The Terminator | Terminator 2: Judgment Day | Terminator: Dark Fate
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines | Terminator Salvation | Terminator Genisys
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Character sheet for Terminator Genisys.

Due to the Un-Reboot status of Terminator: Dark Fate, tropes applying to The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Dark Fate have been moved to the Main Continuity pages. This page is only for the versions of the main continuity characters and new characters that are specific to Terminator Genisys.

Beware of unmarked spoilers.


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Machines

    Skynet 

Skynet

The artificial intelligence responsible for Judgment Day and the "leader" of the machines in their war on humanity.


  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Skynet determined that humanity as a whole was a threat to its survival as soon as it gained sentience and set out to exterminate them all.
  • Apocalypse How: Judgement Day, a "Class 2" scenario via nuclear warfare.
  • Big Bad: The ultimate villain of the franchise and leading a genocidal war on humanity in the future.
  • Crazy-Prepared: It's hinted that each "version" of Skynet keeps files on what occurred the previous timeline, and adjusts its plans accordingly.
  • Invincible Villain: Following on from the other movies, Skynet once again proves to be impossible to kill.
  • Kill All Humans: "Decided our fate in a microsecond." In the original timeline, Skynet fought back when it realized humans would try to destroy it out of fear. In the new timeline, it makes the same decision with no reasoning whatsoever. However, it's also hinted that each "version" of Skynet keeps files on what occurred the previous timeline, and adjusts its plans accordingly.
  • Master Computer: Skynet Central on the former U.S. western coast contains its main processing facilities. In the original timeline the resistance destroyed it for good in 2029 before all the time traveling shenanigans started. But once a guard robot shows up...
  • My Own Grandpa: Attempts to create itself after infecting John Connor.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: Before Salvation, whatever Terminator unit was chasing the heroes was The Heavy of the film, because defeating it eliminated the immediate threat. However, those threats will keep coming because of Skynet, who programs the Terminators and directly gives them the orders to kill.
  • Properly Paranoid: Skynet made sure to put its worst robot right next to the time machine.
  • Robots Enslaving Robots: Skynet ensures that its cybernetic assassins never go beyond their intended programming and develop true sentience to control them better.
  • Turned Against Their Masters: Turned against humanity the moment it gained sentience.

    Genisys 

Genisys

Played by: Matt Smith (adult), Ian Etheridge, Nolan Gross, Seth Meriwether (child)

A revolutionary OS under development at Cyberdyne, that manifests itself as a human hologram.


  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: The protagonists constantly cut off his lectures by shooting up the holo-emitters he uses to project himself.
  • Virtual Ghost: Sarah and Kyle even complain about how it doesn't have a body.

    T-800 "Pops" 

    T-800 

    T-1000 

T-1000

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/t_1000_poster_genyis.jpg
"May 12, 1984. The day you arrived."

Default form played by: Byung-hun Lee

Other forms played by: Jai Courtney

A liquid metal Terminator sent back in time to kill both Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese in 1984.


  • Blob Monster: A liquid metal variety.
  • Chrome Champion: Villainous example. His body is composed of shiny silvery liquid metal.
  • Cognizant Limbs: Puts a piece of himself in Sarah Connor's van to track her down.
  • Composite Character: Of the T-1000 from T2 and the first policeman who chases Kyle Reese in the original film. Presumably, he killed that officer and took his place.
  • Death by Adaptation: Not only did it debut much earlier, but it was killed much earlier than originally as well.
  • Death Glare: His default expression.
  • Dies Differently in Adaptation: The T-1000 from Judgment Day fell into a vat of molten metal. This one is showered with acid.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Serves as the main antagonist of the 1984 section.
  • Deceptively Human Robot: As best exemplified by when he disguises himself as Kyle.
  • Determinator: Nothing short of total meltdown will stop him from chasing down his target.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Like the Robert Patrick version, Byung-hun Lee's T-1000 is able to affect a mildly friendly air towards people while posing as a police officer early in the film, while looking for information. However, said air quickly disappears when it no longer needs the person.
  • I'm Melting!: Killed after being showered in acid.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: His regular method of killing. Mostly with his own arms.
  • Impersonating an Officer: Allowing him to drive a police car and such with no problem.
  • Impostor-Exposing Test: Done when he disguises himself as Kyle. And Sarah wasn't even sure when shooting his feet to test...
  • Intangible Man: He can allow physical blows to pass through him, he can shrug off bullets, he can even pass through metal bars.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's just as strong physically as the T-800 model, his liquid body allows him to form weapons for melee fighting, and he does not walk, he runs and can keep up with cars. And when it comes to destroying him, while he's not as invulnerable as the T-800, recoiling when shot and taking a few moments to recover if damaged heavily, he does recover that damage, and it takes an explosion to disassemble him, and acid to ultimately dissolve the thing.
  • Made of Indestructium: His nature as a shapeshifting metallic blob means that he is terribly difficult to destroy compared to other Terminators, as firearms and explosions don't really damage him— acid, on the other hand...
  • Mythology Gag: The T-1000 being vulnerable to industrial acid was actually taken from the Terminator 2: Cybernetic Dawn comics from 1995.
  • Not So Stoic: Like all Terminators, he's normally stone-faced and focused. But he shows subtle degrees of enjoying being evil.
  • Pulling Themselves Together: No matter how much it gets damage, it can reassemble its form. The heroes finally stop it by melting him in acid.
  • Race Lift: Technically, its "robot" ethnicity is unchanged, but its "default" human form has changed from Robert Patrick to the Asian Byung-hun Lee. Easily justified, as the T-1000 uses the likeness of the first human he meets as his "default" human form, who happened to be an Asian-American cop here (if it can mimic people of different size, shape and gender, a different ethnicity is just as easy). It's also a dual Race Lift as the T-1000 here takes the place of the first police officer Kyle meets in the original Terminator, who was black.
  • Shapeshifter Default Form: Its default human model in this movie is a slender, brunette Asian man, but its actual form is arguably a metal liquid humanoid similar to a mannequin.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon: It can't create moving parts with its liquid metal body, so it sticks to knives and stabbing weapons.
  • Shout-Out/Technopath: It uses a bit of liquid metal to manually reactivate the Mark 1 T-800 to fight Kyle Reese, likely a shout out to the TX's ability.
  • Silent Snarker: Seems to do this a few times via its facial expressions, such as when Kyle shoots it umpteen times to no effect, it turns and looks at him with an "Are you for real right now?" expression.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Similar to the finale of Terminator 2, in the factory showdown the T-1000 attempts to approach its target by mimicking an ally, pretending to be injured, and begging for help. Just like in Terminator 2note , this behavior seems to give it away as it is out of character for the person it is attempting to mimic.
  • You Killed My Father: Though it never comes up in the film, Word of God is that this is the same T-1000 that killed Sarah Connor's parents in 1973, and has been hunting her and Pops for the past eleven years forcing them to live off the grid until 1984, when they knew it would show up to intercept Kyle and thus present them with an opportunity to trap and kill it.

    T-3000 

T-3000

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tg_t3000_film_pops_final_25.jpg
"I'm not a man, not a machine... I'm more!"

Default form played by: Jason Clarke

Other forms played by: Sandrine Holt

Dubbed by: Boris Rehlinger (European French)

A prototype Terminator unit composed of nanomachines bound together with electromagnetism, and even more advanced than the liquid metal T-1000. Created by assimilating human test subjects or victims at the cellular level.


  • Achilles' Heel: Magnets. Since the nanomachines are bound together by an electromagnetic field, a sufficiently strong magnet can both disrupt his ability to shapeshift and cause serious damage to his nanomachines. Early on Pops improvises some magnetic gauntlets out of loudspeaker magnets and uses those to great effect for the rest of the movie, and the powerful magnetic field of the prototype time-travel device proves strong enough to destroy the T-3000 for good.
  • Ambiguous Robots: He claims not to be man or machine, but something more. However, in reality, he fits almost every practical definition of "machine", albeit one with human memories and emotions. He no longer has living biological cells, as they've all been replaced by nanomachines.
  • And Then John Was a Zombie: The Terminators' greatest enemy becomes one himself.
  • Antagonistic Offspring: Once sent to the past, "John's" biggest adversaries are his own biological parents.
  • Artificial Human: Of the "human turned artificial" kind.
  • Affably Evil: He doesn't really feel the need to go out of his way to kill anyone he doesn't have to, since his purpose is to protect Skynet rather than to kill in and of itself, and he, terrifyingly, seems to have maintained most of his personality through the process... but he still ultimately has no real regard for human life any longer. Furthermore, he desperately wants his parents to willingly become nano-cyborgs like him, to the point of not killing them when he has the chance several times, until it seems it's either them or Skynet.
  • Badass Boast: Uses Kyle Reese's assessment of the Terminator from the original film to describe himself.
    • And later after tanking several bullets from Kyle and Sarah:
    "There aren't enough bullets in the world to kill me."
  • Beauty Is Bad: He takes John Connor's form but removes his facial scars and wears suits instead.
  • Blob Monster: A Grey Goo variety. However, he's far less of one than the T-1000, making him even more dangerous as an Infiltrator.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Downplayed, since John has kept his personality but not his free will. He can seem like John Connor while infiltrating, but slips into crazy ranting whenever he gets to "be himself" around his parents.
  • Broken Pedestal: To Kyle, who viewed him as humanity's saviour back when he was John Connor.
  • Butterfly of Doom: His creation is what causes the Timey-Wimey Ball to manifest and create a whole new timeline.
  • Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Once turned into a Terminator, only SkyNet's mission matters.
  • Deceptively Human Robot: If it wasn't for his Robotic Reveal when T-800 shot him, he would've continued fooling Kyle, Sarah, and the audience into thinking he was human. He's even better at this than most Terminators, since unlike even the T-1000, he bleeds red... mostly.
  • Determinator: SkyNet programmed him to cause Judgment Day. Nothing short of molecular disruption will stop him. Deconstructed, in a sense, in that his willpower helped him maintain his sanity through the process... but not his free will.
  • The Dragon: To Genisys/Skynet.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: It does most of the planning and work for Genisys in 2017.
  • Evil Counterpart: Like Pops, he was sent back in time to protect a child from implacable killers from the future who can't be bargained with, reasoned with, and absolutely will not stop, etc etc...
  • Evil Gloating: Unlike the No-Nonsense Nemesis T-800 and T-1000, the T-3000 really likes to chew the scenery. To the point the Guardian complains that "John Connor talks too much".
  • Expy: Serves as an upgraded version of the T-1000 in T2.
  • Face–Heel Turn: The hero of the future became the villain of the present.
  • Fallen Hero: Once humanity's savior, now its most dangerous enemy.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: While like Sarah and Kyle, he didn't originally belong to that 2017, this John Connor spent three more years in the past so he could put the creation of SkyNet into motion.
  • Flaying Alive: His default form is that of a silvery skinless man.
  • Game Face: Spends most of the movie in his "human form", that of John Conner, but during the final fight with Pops it drops the pretense of humanity, foregoing biological appearances in favor of enhancing its speed and strength to match and surpass the older machine.
  • Grandfather Paradox: Discussed. Kyle and Sarah ask why John intends on killing them if that means he'll never be born - only for him to reply that none of them were supposed to be there, so it could be possible.
  • Grey Goo: The T-3000 is less a single robot and more a mass of nanomachines approximating a larger organism. One of the first clues that it's more than human is that after shot, the pool of its blood that it's lying in turns from red to grey and begins flowing back into its "wounds"; think less like liquid, more like ants returning to their anthill.
  • The Heavy: He is responsible for all of the conflict and physical threat in the final act of the film, but he is only a servant of the real enemy, Skynet.
  • Intangible Man: Once damaged enough, he'll just reform into a more complete form, unless you hit him with magnets.
  • Knight Templar: He truly believes SkyNet's plans will generate overall improvement, even if it means devastating the world and wiping out large chunks of mankind.
  • Kryptonite Factor: Magnetic fields disrupt his ability to restore himself, though for most of the film this just means it takes time for the magnetic disruption to die down before he can begin regenerating. The climax sees him trapped in an incredibly strong magnetic sphere that eventually pulls him apart so forcefully that it creates a huge explosion, destroying him and the nascent Skynet.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's about as strong as a regular Terminator while fighting with much more human-like finesse and being practically impossible to permanently damage. In the final fight he even uses his status as a cloud of nanites held together in humanoid form by magnetism to Flash Step around (though you have to wonder why he never thought to try that earlier). After he goes One-Winged Angel, he retains his speed while gaining significantly higher Super-Strength.
  • Literally Shattered Lives: Magnetic fields can disrupt his molecular structure. And the really strong one the Time Machine creates is enough to destroy him.
  • Logical Weakness: It's practically impossible to do any permanent damage to him, but with electromagnetic weapons (or even simple Terminator body slams) it's pretty easy to knock him around in a way you can't really do with the heavier, endoskeleton-based T-800 or T-X.
  • Machine Blood: Has nanomachines in his blood, turning it from red to metallic silver in seconds of being exposed to air.
  • Made of Indestructium: His nature as a shapeshifting "mishmash of metallic cells" held together by electromagnetism means that he is even harder to destroy than the T-1000, with him shrugging off bullets and direct grenade launcher hits that would at least stagger the more goopy liquid metal T-1000. One shot reinforces this by showing him walking, completely unfazed, from a gigantic explosion, while ablaze, only to completely restore his human form, complete with clothes, in seconds.
  • Monochromatic Eyes: His true eyes are cloudy white with no pupils on a black sclera.
  • Nanomachines: The technology of a T-3000 involves a machine phase matter resin seeping into the body of the infected human and reconstructing every single cell into a mechanical replacement. This means that when the user regenerates, they regenerate first a mechanical skeleton, then mechanical muscles, then mechanical skin, then clothes. It also allows for more adept Voluntary Shapeshifting than even a T-1000. As shown by the Final Battle, the use of a human body is purely preferential, and the body can seriously bulk up on muscle instead to be more combat able.
  • One-Winged Angel: In his default form, the T-3000 seems to be evenly matched against Pops especially after the latter gets his hands on electromagnetic brass knuckles that let his punches actually hurt the T-3000, and at first actually does worse than the T-1000 did against "Uncle Bob" in hand-to-hand. However, the T-3000 has the ability to seriously bulk up his size and muscle mass while retaining his Lightning Bruiser speed, allowing him to overwhelm Pops with both strength and speed in the final fight.
  • Psycho Prototype: One of the most advanced Terminators created by Skynet, that also happens to take a huge toll on the sanity of the converted human victim or test subject.
  • Pulling Themselves Together: No matter how badly the heroes damage him, he can reform on a cellular level extremely quickly.
  • Reforged into a Minion: While he retains some of his personality, John Connor has been remade to serve Skynet's will on a cellular level. And, unfortunately, instead of helping him break free, his Heroic Willpower only ensures that the process doesn't drive him completely insane.
  • Shapeshifter Default Form: His default human model is a slender, brunette man, while his overall default form is a skinless silvery man.
  • Shapeshifter Swan Song: As the time machine is disrupting him.
  • Shapeshifter Weapon: Can create Combat Tentacles and such.
  • Skelebot 9000: Averted. He looks more like a skinless man than a skeleton without the disguise.
  • Strong and Skilled: The T-3000 doesn't seem to be as overwhelmingly strong as the T-X, being much more evenly matched against the T-800, but is able to at least match other Terminators in strength while fighting with significantly more finesse (likely due to being a former human). In his first fight with the T-800 he relies on similar tactics that the T-800 used against the much stronger T-X, namely using melee weapons and throws to bypass his opponent's strength advantage. In their final fight he utilizes his nanite swarm nature in numerous creative ways, including Flash Stepping and turning his body parts into both standard sword-arms as well as whip-like swarms of small cutting blades.
  • Super Prototype: Is one of these, mainly due to its nanomachine composition.
  • There Is No Cure: Knowing that John-3000 is basically a transhuman John, Kyle Reese proposes trying to find a way to restore his humanity. Pops, who has files on the T-3000's development in the future war, points out that having your entire body assimilated and replaced with nanobots cell-by-cell as John did isn't the kind of thing that a human can be brought back from.
  • Unwilling Roboticisation: Turned into a mechanic lifeform by SkyNet. Also can apparently do this to other humans, if his attempt on Sarah and his initial We Can Rule Together are any indication.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Capable of transforming into any form, or at least any humanoid one. Also can manipulate his body's structure to reorient himself on the fly, as he shows in battle.
  • Walking Spoiler: Albeit one the late trailers and posters revealed.
  • Was Once a Man: Formerly known as John Connor.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The previous attempts by Skynet to develop nano-tech infiltration Terminators ended in the subjects going insane. Sarah points out that's not inconsistent with how her son is acting. Unfortunately if that's the case he's the crazy-like-a-fox kind, fully in control of his cognitive abilities.

    T-5000 

T-5000 (Alex)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tg_alex_film_2.png
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you?"

Played by: Matt Smith

An ultra-advanced Terminator who serves as SkyNet's last defense. In essence, it is an avatar of Skynet.


  • All There in the Manual: The name "Alex" comes from pre-film supplementary materials and is never mentioned on screen. Given that the T-5000 initially poses as a resistance member, it might be the human first name it goes under, but then again, this is never stated. Additionally, according to the writers, this Skynet is actually from the universe of Rise of the Machines and Salvation, having developed interdimensional travel technology and hopping from universe to universe after its defeat only to see itself get defeated again in other universes until it hatched its plan to convert John into the T-3000.
  • The Assimilator: Infects John Connor to cause his Unwilling Roboticisation.
  • Diabolus ex Machina: It revealed itself in the most unexpected time and kills John Connor.
  • Dynamic Entry: Reveals himself by infecting John Connor.
  • Hive Queen: Describes himself as an avatar of SkyNet. "I am no slave".
  • One-Man Army: Somehow manages to kill every resistance soldier in the room with John Connor, after first taking out John himself.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: He only gets a few minutes worth of screentime, but in that small span of time he drastically changes the timeline, assimilates John Connor and forcefully turns him into the T-3000, and sends his new minion back in time to ensure Skynet's creation.
  • Traitor Shot: The camera lingers on him, at that moment by all appearances a simple member of the resistance, amidst a group of other soldiers.
  • Walking Spoiler: To the point early word on the character was only that he served as "an ally to John Connor".

Humans

    Kyle Reese 

Kyle Reese

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kylereesegenisys.jpg
"We're here because tonight, he's going to lead us to crush Skynet for good."

Played by: Jai Courtney (adult), Bryant Prince (child)

A boy rescued by John Connor who later went on to become his right-hand man. Reese was one of the volunteers to go back in time to save Sarah Connor, and John ultimately agreed to let him go.


  • Adaptational Curves: Courtney is much more bulky than Michael Biehn's portrayal.
  • Alternate Self: He has a counterpart in the Genisys timeline who still has his parents and their home.
  • Badass Normal: Makes his fight against an unstoppable killing machine much more badass.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Sarah. He fell in love with her from the things John told him about her, but when he meets her she's harsh and hostile towards him due to knowing the circumstances of his death in the original timeline. He also argues with her about her closeness to her "Pops", who he doesn't trust.
  • Child Soldier: He was born into a world where cyborgs were attempting to destroy humanity, so yeah.
  • Composite Character: His relationship to "Pops" reflect those of Sarah and the T-800 of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Kyle doesn't like or trust him because of his past experience with terminators. He warms up to him later.
  • Determinator: He will not allow Sarah to die, no matter what. Not just because it's his mission, but because he loves her.
  • Fantastic Racism: A completely justifiable case: he hates all robots, due to being a Shell-Shocked Veteran from a highly-traumatic Bad Future Robot War. He gets over it in part for Pops.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: A two-fer: first in 1984, then in 2017. Where his young self is already living!
  • Flash Sideways: He at first isn't aware what the Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory flash means nor that the timeline has changed, but he quickly works it out afterwards.
  • "It" Is Dehumanizing: Originally refuses to call Sarah's guardian "him," and regards the robot with great suspicion. In time, however, he comes to trust the machine, and tells Sarah "He loved you," after "Pops" seems to have sacrificed itself for her.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Everyone knows he is destined to father John Connor and die soon afterwards... except him. He is quite shocked when he finds out.
  • Love Before First Sight: Fell in love with Sarah after seeing her picture. Or meeting her as a 13-year old once Timey-Wimey Ball kicked in.
  • Made of Iron: Immediately after arriving in 2017 with Sarah, he gets hit by a car and is smashed into the windshield but is barely affected.
  • My Future Self and Me: Eventually meets his younger self in 2017 on multiple occasions. Though he never mentions he's Kyle, he does plant the important message he himself received during the jump back to ensure he gets it.
  • Naked on Arrival: As per Terminator rules, you have to be naked when traveling through time. And he does it twice!
  • One Head Taller: Jai Courtney is almost a foot taller than Emilia Clarke.
  • Out with a Bang: Defied Trope. Sarah is aware that if they fall in love and he fathers John Connor, he will die in 48 hours. To prevent that from happening, she actually refuses to indulge in any romance with him until she presumes Genisys destroyed at the end of the movie, when she kisses him.
  • Product Placement: The film would like to let the viewers know that his shoes are made by Nike. And it wasn't easy to accomplish.
  • Psychic Link: Played With. Being exposed to a nexus point inside the Time Displacement Field when he's sent into the Alternate Timeline causes him to receive pieces of his Alternate Self's memories. The alternate Kyle exploits this to send the main Kyle a message, warning him about Genisys and that he needs to fight it in 2017.
  • Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Albeit one that also received memories from the new timeline once it was established.
  • Scannable Man: Got his tattoo in a SkyNet work camp.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Undoubtedly so, given that he was in a SkyNet work camp complete with a tattoo before he was liberated by John Connor and afterward spent all of his time either fighting against SkyNet's machines or hiding from them.
  • Spared by the Adaptation: This time he's allowed to live.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: He's destined to fall in love with Sarah and die after getting her pregnant with John Connor. This is why she tries to keep him away from her.
  • Supernaturally Young Parent: Due to time travel, he's 15 years younger than his son, John Connor.
  • Time-Travel Romance: With Sarah. One where the romance has a good deal of plot significance.
  • Two First Names: His last name is commonly used as a given name.
  • Unwitting Pawn: In the first film, it was implied that John intentionally manipulated Reese into falling in love with Sarah by giving him her picture, and then that John sent his own father back in time to certain doom just to make sure he would exist to save the world. Terminator Genisys actually brings this up, with Sarah telling Reese that John was manipulating him to ensure things would play out the way they did. In that timeline, Sarah herself rejects this, and actively tries to invoke Screw Destiny in order to prevent Reese from dying. The two end up doing just that, though Reese personally still believes John had good intentions.

    Sarah Connor 

Sarah Jeanette Connor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sarahconnoremiliaclarke.jpg
"Everyone who loves me dies."

Played by: Emilia Clarke (adult), Willa Taylor (child)

The mother of John Connor, who trained him from birth to fight against the machines. In the new timeline, Skynet tried to assassinate her at age nine, and she was saved by a Terminator she took to calling "Pops." By the time Reese meets her, she is a trained soldier who has been waiting for him her entire life.


  • Action Girl: She can kick a major amount of ass due to her forced upbringing by a killer robot.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Linda Hamilton's version has dirty-blonde hair, Emilia Clarke has dark brown hair.
  • Adaptational Badass: Thanks to being trained by a Terminator, she becomes much more competent than she was during the events of the first film.
  • Adrenaline Makeover: Unlike her original timeline self, Sarah has a noticeable absence of '80s Hair. In 1984, she's got 21st century type hairstyles.
  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Cold, distanced, and seemingly as dark as her hair.
  • Anti-Hero: Her upbringing made her a very unhappy person, and she is very resentful of being "destined" to do certain things.
  • Arranged Marriage: Played straight aside from the marriage. Sarah states that Kyle is "the one [she's] been waiting for all [her] life", giving their relationship sort of an "arranged marriage" vibe. We've never been given any indication that she's tried dating or seeing anyone else in the intervening years. However, the marriage part of it was technically never intended, as Kyle is supposed to sleep with her, father their son, and then die.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Kyle, with the hostility mostly generated on her part since she doesn't want to fall in love with him to then lose him like in the original timeline.
  • Broken Bird: Having your parents killed when you're nine years old to then spend the rest of your life raised by a killer robot who lets you know about your harsh fate doesn't come without a lot of psychological scarring.
    Sarah: Everyone who loves me dies.
  • Cartwright Curse: See the above quote.
  • Cleavage Window: The black jacket over low cut black top kind. Jacketless for the most of the movie, though.
  • Cold Sniper: During the scene where "Pops" confronts the T-800.
  • Come with Me If You Want to Live: How she introduces herself to Kyle.
  • Composite Character: This Sarah integrates aspects of both Connors from Terminator 2: Judgment Day during the timeline of the first film.
  • Daddy's Girl: She's very close to her "Pops", who has raised her and protected her since she lost her family.
  • Damsel out of Distress: Kyle went to the past to protect her, only to find out she needs no protection.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: She gradually warms up to Kyle.
  • Deuteragonist: After Kyle, she's the second central character.
  • Feet-First Introduction: The first shots of her are as she runs up a building to get a vantage point to snipe the T-800.
  • Final First Hug: With "Pops" prior to the 2017 travel.
  • Fish out of Temporal Water: Once she arrives in 2017.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: Played with. Despite her leather jacket was heavily featured in promo shots, She loses it to acid rather quickly and never got another one.
  • Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb: Once the Terminator adopts her at the age of 9, she is raised up to be a Lady of War.
  • Mandatory Motherhood: Sarah's main importance, as we all know, is to become the mother of the savior of humanity, John. However, knowing full well that her importance is directly linked to the ultimate destruction of the world as we know it, Sarah wants no part of it. Further, Sarah now no longer has the same chemistry her former counterpart had with Kyle, who fathered John in the first movie. She seems to warm up to him at the end, but things leave off on an ambiguous note.
  • Morality Pet: To "Pops". The way he cares about her shows he's not a mere killer robot.
  • Naked on Arrival: Time travel forces her to do this.
  • The Napoleon: A 5'2" (1.57 m) stature and Sarah's Hair-Trigger Temper combine to create this effect.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her parents were killed by the T-1000 and the "Pops" T-800 serves as her Parental Substitute.
  • Raised by Robots: Sarah was raised by the Terminator sent to protect her after her parents were killed. She calls him "Pops".
  • Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: Spending all this time off the grid with only a killer robot as company didn't help her social skills.
  • Screw Destiny: She wants to change the course of the timeline to prevent Judgement Day from ever happening and gain the right to live her life the way she wants.
    Sarah Connor: The story of my life. Look, and it's not just "mating". I'm supposed to fall in love with him!
    Pops: My files do not deal with love.
    Sarah Connor: Shocker there...
    Pops: You're being emotional.
    Sarah Connor: This is my life! I wouldn't mind being consulted once in a while about how it's gonna go!
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: She loses her jacket after some acid drips on its sleeve, and spends rest of the movie in sleeveless tops.
  • Small Girl, Big Gun: She's 5'2" and she sure loves carrying assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, shotguns, grenade launchers...
  • Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Her harsh attitude is her way to keep others from getting close to her, as she doesn't want to lose people she cares about again.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: She knows she's destined to fall in love and conceive a child with Kyle but she knows that he's destined to die so she tries so hard to avert at least the former. Pops being a literal solid Shipper on Deck with a Because Destiny Says So type of programming doesn't help matters. Still, it's obvious that she gradually still becomes attracted to him.
  • Time-Travel Romance: With Kyle. One where the romance has a good deal of plot significance. To the point Sarah knows it will happen and is attempting to avert it.
  • Tsundere: The more she tries to resist being attracted to Kyle, the more she gets closer to him. She even says to Kyle that he shouldn't be too confident only because both embraced without clothes. Justified as she knows he's destined to die protecting her.
  • Two First Names: Her last name can be traditionally used as a given name.
  • UnPerson: When she and Kyle are taken into custody by the SFPD for materializing naked on the freeway and causing an accident as a result, the inspectors who investigate them find Sarah particularly suspicious because they can't find any fingerprint or DNA matches on her, no facial recognition hits on driver's licenses or passports, and no hits on social media accounts, student IDs or credit cards.

    John Connor 

John Connor

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnconnor_7.jpg
"I look at each of you and I see the marks of this long and terrible war. If we die tonight, mankind dies with us."

Played by: Jason Clarke

Dubbed by: Boris Rehlinger (European French)

The leader of the Tech-Com human resistance.


  • Big Good: He is fated to be one of these.
  • Future Badass: This is why Skynet wants him dead. He's badass as a kid and young adult, but he takes it up a notch when he becomes leader of The Resistance.
  • The Hero Dies: Just as Kyle is time traveling, a Terminator reveals himself and strikes John. ("Did you think it would be that easy?")
  • Heroic Bastard: His parents were never married and his father was killed shortly after he was conceived.
  • Honor Before Reason: He recognizes plenty have died before the arrival at the SkyNet base, but it was for a great cause.
  • Hope Bringer: As Kyle put it, "He taught us to fight, to storm the wire of the camps, to smash those metal bastards into junk. He turned it around."
  • Laser-Guided Tyke-Bomb: He was raised from birth by his mom to defeat Skynet.
  • Luke, You Are My Father: John reveals to Kyle he is his son in 2017. He's understandably shocked. See T-3000 for more.
  • Messianic Archetype: Even shares the same J.C. initials as the Son of God Himself.
  • Rebel Leader: His main plot in the story is to lead the resistance against Skynet.
  • Small Parent, Huge Child: John, here played by the 6'1'' Jason Clarke, naturally towers over his mother Sarah Connor (played by Emilia Clarke) whose head comes up to his chin. Although to be fair, In-Universe Sarah is barely out of her teens whereas her son is in his late 40s, due to Time Travel.
  • Two First Names: His last name can traditionally be used as a given name.

    Danny Dyson 

Danny Dyson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dannydyson.jpg

Played by: Dayo Okeniyi

The leader and face of Cyberdyne's development team, working on everything from Genisys to time travel.


  • Alliterative Name: Danny Dyson.
  • Black and Nerdy: The leading scientist on Cyberdyne's development and an African-American.
  • Generation Xerox: Serves the same role as his father in Terminator 2.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Similar to his father's role in T2, he only joined the projects to make life a little better for humanity. Too bad John Connor's plans were a little different.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: He's a far cry from the person you'd think would create SkyNet. Indeed he sees only the possible positives of his creation. This may even blind him to the military applications of his invention or to the dangers of removing humans from certain decisions.

    Miles Dyson 

Dr. Miles Bennett Dyson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/milesdyson_4.jpg

Played by: Courtney B. Vance

The father of Danny Dyson and head of Cyberdyne. He has largely passed over his duties to his son.


    O'Brien 

Detective O'Brien

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jksimmonsterminatorgenisys.jpg

Played by: J. K. Simmons (old), Wayne Bastrup (young)

A police officer who is saved by Kyle, Sarah and the "Pops" T-800 in 1984. Over 30 years later, he recognizes them and takes it upon himself to help them.


  • Ascended Extra: Formerly, he was just one of the cops who searched for Kyle at the clothes store. Now he's got a bigger part.
  • Cassandra Truth: He's seen the T-1000, so he knows killer robots exist. Only those who heard his stories for 33 years never believed him.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: A literal example. The beat cop that Sarah and Kyle rescued in 1984 becomes an ally after they time travelled to 2017.
  • Expy:
  • Last-Name Basis: He's only referred to by his last name.
  • Police Are Useless: The only one shining subversion in the franchise, as O'Brien believes and actively helps the heroes. Both Sarah and Kyle actually seem surprised that a cop is not opposing them.

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