FAQ for
Terminator Genisys (2015) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Terminator Genisys can be found here.

John Connor (Jason Clarke) sends Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back through time to protect his mother Sarah (Emilia Clarke) and to save his mother from a Terminator that has been sent back through time to kill her. Arriving in the past, Kyle learns another Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was sent back through time, when Sarah was a child and raised her, told her about Judgement Day and has prepared her for Kyle's arrival and the other Terminator that was sent back to kill her and Kyle aids Sarah and her aging Terminator protector, in preventing Judgement Day.

It is currently planned to be a re-launch for a new trilogy of films; however, in the world of Hollywood, plans can change quickly. Regardless, Terminator is way too profitable of a franchise to write off after any one failure. It is a safe bet that regardless of how they present it, more films will be on the way.

This film is a direct sequel to the original two films The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day. However, it directly corresponds with the events in the first film, but diverts into an original story due to an altered timeline. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator: Salvation are ignored. As the narration by Kyle Reese at the beginning of the film states that Judgement day happened on August 15th, 1997 as it did in the original two films. Whereas Terminator 3 established that the events in T2 only postponed Judgement Day until the early 2000's and that the event itself was inevitable.

The reason is that the T-800 has living human tissue over its endoskeleton. The human tissue ages just like a human would. The T-800 "Pops" is sent back to 1973 to protect a 9 year old Sarah Connor. Arnold was 37 when the original Terminator was released in 1984. So assuming the "Pops" is meant to look that age in 1973, that would make him look around 48 by 1984. He then stays behind while Sarah and Kyle jump ahead to 2017, ageing him another 33 years, making him appear 81.

Yes, there is a short scene mid-credits that hints at a sequel. See here for more information.

The likely theory is that this was a different model of T-1000 than the one seen in T2. As we know that Arnold's Terminator is the T-800 model 101. Meaning the T-800 is the type of Terminator and the model #101 refers to the appearance (i.e. Arnold), whereas the model 102 would look different than Arnold. So it stands to reason that this would apply to the T-1000 as well. Robert Patrick's T-1000 would likely be model #1 (as he was a prototype) and the one in this film could be model #2. An alternate theory is that the T-1000 simply killed and copied an Asian police officer instead of a Caucasian Police officer as he did in T2. However, this isn't likely, as we see that the T-1000 keeps its default appearance (i.e. Robert Patrick) and simply stole the gun and uniform of the officer he killed.

Sarah brings up this fact to the John Connor Terminator. JCT explains that he believes that due to them all time travelling that they are separate from events of the past and future, therefore he could kill them without erasing himself from existence. Although this may have just been part of the programming from Skynet. JCT had already ensured Skynet's creation, so it no longer needed John Connor. Skynet had tried killing Sarah and John Connor several times and always failed. So by Skynet perhaps planting the idea that killing Kyle Reese and Sarah before John was born wouldn't affect him, it allows them an opportunity to erase John Connor from existence and ensure its victory as was the original plan.

This is one of many time travel paradoxes that the Terminator series addresses. The grandfather paradox suggests that you could not travel back in time and kill your own grandfather before you were born, because this would erase you from existence. However, if you are erased from existence, you were never able to travel back in time to kill him. Likewise, John Connor shouldn't be able to send his father back in time to conceive him. Nor could Skynet send terminators back in time to ensure its own existence.

Another theory is that by travelling through time, you are separate from any events you might change. Meaning you could travel back in time to before you were born and kill your grandfather, that would alter the timeline, but you would not be affected. This is the theory posited in the film.