The Terminator

Terminator: Genisys (2015)

Director: Alan Taylor
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, Jason Clarke, Matt Smith, Byung-Hun Lee, JK Simmons

The year is 2029. John Connor, leader of the resistance continues the war against the machines. At the Los Angeles offensive, John's fears of the unknown future begin to emerge when TECOM spies reveal a new plot by SkyNet that will attack him from both fronts; past and future, and will ultimately change warfare forever.

Terminator Salvation (2009)

Director: McG
Cast: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Bryce Dallas Howard, Moon Bloodgood, Common, Jadagrace, Helena Bonham Carter

In the highly anticipated new installment of The Terminator film franchise, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, Christian Bale stars as John Connor, the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet's operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind. 

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

Director: Jonathan Mostow
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, Kristanna Loken, Earl Boen

In a last attempt to ensure a victory by the machines, a new terminator, the T-X, is sent back to kill as many of John Connor's future lieutenants as possible, including John Connor and his future wife Kate Brewster. After the future Connor is terminated by a version of his previous protector, Kate reprograms it and sends it back to save them both from the T-X.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Director: James Cameron
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick

After the machines failed to prevent John Connor from being born, they try again in 1995, this time attempting to kill him as a child with a more advanced terminator, the T-1000. As before, John sends back a protector for his younger self, a reprogrammed Terminator, identical to the one from the previous film. After eleven years of preparing for the future war, Sarah decides to use the same tactics the machines used on her: prevent Skynet from being invented by destroying Cyberdyne Systems before they create it.

The Terminator (1984)

Director: James Cameron
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Lance Henriksen, Earl Boen

In the film, machines take over the world in the near future, directed by the artificial intelligence Skynet. With its sole mission to completely annihilate humanity, it develops cyborg assassins called Terminators that outwardly appear human. A man named John Connor starts the Tech-Com resistance to defeat them and free humanity. With a human victory imminent, the machines' only choice is to send a Terminator back in time to kill John's mother, Sarah Connor, before he is born, preventing the resistance from ever being founded. With the fate of humanity at stake, John sends soldier Kyle Reese back to protect his mother and ensure his own existence.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles TV series (2008)

Director: Josh Friedman
Cast: Lena Headey, Thomas Dekker, Summer Glau, Brian Austin Green, Garret Dillahunt, Shirley Manson, Leven Rambin, Richard T. Jones

Lena Headey as Sarah Connor and Thomas Dekker as John Connor. The series, created by Josh Friedman, centers on Sarah and John after Terminator 2 as they try to after the explosion at Cyberdyne.