The Terminator Movies' 10 Best Characters, Ranked

Warning: This list contains spoilers for all the Terminator movies, including Terminator: Dark Fate.

As the quality of the Terminator movies rises and falls, certain characters stand out as the best of the franchise while others demonstrate poorly written arcs. The initial conflict of the Terminator franchise revolves around Terminators created by Skynet being sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor and her son John because of John’s future role as the leader of the resistance against the machines. Unsurprisingly, the series’ main trio of the T-800, Sarah, and John remain its best characters.

However, some characters still emerge as worthy additions to the story in the later movies. The best Terminator movies are undeniably the first two, while those that followed it are considered the worst until the most recent installment made a surprise comeback. However, despite considerably poorer writing in some cases, all the Terminator movies still provide new details about the characters that create a clearer picture of their overall arcs. On the other hand, Terminator Genisys presents versions of some of the classic characters whose life experiences are so different that they can be considered entirely new characters.

10 Kate Connor (Née Brewster) From T3 & Salvation

Played By Claire Danes & Bryce Dallas Howard

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines introduces the logical new plot point of the T-X (Kristanna Loken) being sent back in time not only to kill John Connor but also his future lieutenants. Among them is Kate Brewster, who will become John’s wife and second-in-command. As she is played by Danes, Kate is sensible, intelligent, and believably someone who will become an important leader in the resistance. She understandably freaks out when Terminators start showing up in her life, but like Sarah, adapts quickly.

Danes gives a convincing performance of someone who has the potential to become what Kate will be in the future, which includes being able to reprogram a Terminator and send it back in time after her husband’s death. Unfortunately, the Terminator franchise doesn’t show any of Kate’s character development after she has the same brutal awakening Sarah did. Her arc is cut short because her role in Terminator Salvation is minimal. In this movie, she is simply John’s devoted wife and confidante with little personality of her own.

9 Sarah Connor From Genisys

Played By Emilia Clarke

A new iteration of Sarah is one of the leads of Genisys, born out of a different timeline where a Terminator tried to kill her when she was nine and succeeded in killing her parents. As a result, Sarah was raised by the T-800 who saved her. This new Sarah is just as headstrong as the original; essentially, no version of her as an average 19-year-old waitress ever existed because she has been preparing to fight Terminators since childhood.

She is also apathetic at best about her supposed predetermined fate to give birth to the future leader of the resistance. Genisys’ Sarah makes an interesting contribution to the series’ discourse about “no fate” that arises when the characters are aware of how the Terminator plot is supposed to play out. Clarke had her work cut out for her with the movie’s bad writing, and her performance is generally disliked, but some moments with her characters are among Genisys’ redeeming qualities.

8 Miles Dyson From T2

Played By Joe Morton

Miles Dyson is allegedly responsible for the creation of Skynet in the original Terminator timeline. However, he is a surprisingly likable character despite this, as well as only playing a small role in the story. In T2, Sarah desperately infiltrates Miles’ home and terrorizes his family, planning to kill him to prevent Judgment Day. Sarah backs down just before John and the T-800 show up to offer the Dysons proof of who they are and why Sarah wanted to kill Miles. After this, he changes direction remarkably fast.

At the heart of the Terminator franchise is the implication that no matter what the characters with knowledge of the future do to prevent it, scientists will eventually develop technology capable of exterminating humanity. Miles offers some redemption for the characters he represents because once he knows the cost, he does not defend his technology. He immediately says he will quit Cyberdyne and help Sarah, John, and the T-800 destroy the lab when he likely would have been imprisoned for doing so. However, Miles sacrifices himself when he triggers the explosion.

7 Pops From Genisys

Played By Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s new version of the T-800 is certainly one of the reasons Genisys isn’t as bad as most people would say. Ironically, the in-universe explanation as to why the T-800 looks older is regarded as one of the cleverest parts of the movie. Schwarzenegger is as funny as ever as a friendly Terminator whom Sarah calls “Pops,” embarrassing Sarah and Kyle (Jai Courtney) with his blunt observations and struggling to understand human behavior.

However, what makes the character work is that he is a natural continuation of a previously established dynamic. The relationship between John and the T-800 in T-2 is one of the best parts of the movie; developing a story where a young Sarah finds a father figure in a Terminator is a perfect way to further delve into these themes. Although Genisys is a bad movie, it gives die-hard Terminator fans some reward by having Pops verbally express how much he cares for Sarah, demonstrating that he is capable of love.

6 Kyle Reese From The Terminator & Salvation

Played By Michael Biehn & Anton Yelchin

Kyle Reese holds an unusual place in the Terminator franchise as the steadfast soldier dedicated to protecting the Connors, who is never aware of his importance to them. He is also the original Terminator character who most benefited from his screen time in Salvation. Kyle volunteers to travel back in time to protect Sarah, partially because of his long-distance crush on her, for her to actually return his feelings. Yet however naive Kyle is, he goes down fighting for Sarah. Kyle then becomes overshadowed as the protector figure within the Terminator canon when the T-800 steps into the role in T2.

Salvation actually helped Kyle’s character by giving him more time to endear himself to the audience. He is just as brave and hopeful as a teenager, and a protective older brother figure to Star (Jadagrace). The audience sees Kyle through John’s eyes, with knowledge of his future (or past) actions. Kyle is a key figure in the Terminator story and conveys some sense of the devastation of the future war, even only in the first movie.

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5 Grace Harper From Dark Fate

Played By Mackenzie Davis

Davis gives an amazing performance as Grace, the augmented human sent back in time to protect the new future leader of the resistance in a new timeline where the war against the machines comes later and John has died. A strength of Dark Fate is the friendship between Grace and Dani; Grace’s reasons for protecting Dani are even stronger because she actually knows Dani in the future. Grace is also praiseworthy for being the protector sent back in time who handles explaining to the target what is going on with the most sensitivity.

Like Kyle before her, Grace is fully committed to the cause of protecting the future resistance leader and, by extension, humankind as a whole. She has some great action scenes and is always cool under pressure, making her likable as a classic action heroine. Grace calls back to past protector characters in the franchise but still has enough of an individual personality to stand on her own.

4 Dani Ramos From Dark Fate

Played By Natalia Reyes

Dark Fate deconstructs the established tropes of the Terminator franchise, namely concerning who will become the future salvation of humanity. An older Sarah mocks the scenario where a young woman would only be targeted for something her future son will do. However, Dark Fate is different because the future AI threat goes straight to Dani, the destined resistance leader in the new timeline. Dani’s character inherently challenges the idea that only John Connor could have saved humanity, suggesting that someone will step up when they are needed.

In the primary time depicted in Dark Fate, Dani is an average young woman in Mexico City who is already standing up to the antagonists of her life. She just doesn’t know that the threats are going to become much bigger in the future. Dark Fate shows how Dani naturally steps into the role of a leader and someone unaccustomed to constant danger, as she takes charge of the main characters. Dark Fate’s ending also implies a great future storyline for Dani — which may or may not appear in Terminator 7 — where she trains with Sarah to become another capable warrior.

3 John Connor From T2, T3, & Salvation

Played By Edward Furlong, Michael Edwards, Nick Stahl, & Christian Bale

John’s character is built up to be something in the world of the Terminator franchise that is only seen for brief amounts of time. John is supposed to be the last hope for humanity’s future, but the audience spends more time with him as a snarky teenager or an unsure young man. However, these depictions are what make him a great character, because he is, like other characters throughout the franchise, an average person who goes on to become a hero. He just has the advantage of Sarah having armed him with an education in weaponry, military tactics, and computer programming.

John’s character also demonstrates a unique perspective in T2 when he sees the new T-800 as a true friend and bonds with him despite another Terminator trying to kill his parents. Salvation’s version of John isn’t particularly interesting, but the movie at least deepens the character by giving some sense of what it was like for him to meet a young Kyle Reese and fall into the role of protecting his father. John’s arc takes him from being a rebellious child to a military leader with prophetic wisdom, demonstrating how he is a very complicated character.

2 The T-800 From T2

Played By Arnold Schwarzenegger

Few characters in the Terminator movies or the action genre overall are as iconic as the first friendly Terminator, reprogrammed by an adult John and sent back in time to protect his younger self in T2. This T-800 introduces a completely new concept to the story, where the character who plays the biggest role in the movie’s marketing is actually one of the heroes. Additionally, this T-800 demonstrates a perfect balance between having the personality of a Terminator while protecting and coming to genuinely care for the Connors.

A highlight of T2 is the comedic yet heartfelt dynamic between a young John, who has had no father figure in his life, and the T-800. The T-800 has a subtle but complete arc where he gains some understanding of human emotions, leading to his tearful goodbye with John. Pops in Genisys possibly shows what could have been if T2’s T-800 had more time with the Connors. However, Pops can’t match the iconic scenes of the older version of his character.

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1 Sarah Connor From The Terminator, T2, & Dark Fate

Played by Linda Hamilton

Sarah has arguably always been the main character of the Terminator movies, even if her son is the one meant to save the world. Sarah’s life is completely destroyed in The Terminator when the first T-800 kills all her family and friends. However, while she is skeptical of Kyle’s description of her in the future, Sarah demonstrates resilience and bravery when she is the one to finally kill the T-800. Sarah’s arc after her first victory over Skynet does not disappoint.

T2 shows how Sarah has been changed by the events of the first movie, transforming her into a prepared, relentless fighter. Her character is still complex, struggling with what she should do to ensure humankind and her son’s future. Dark Fate then offers a satisfying continuation of Sarah’s story where she loses her son and finds meaning again in the woman who will fill his role. Sarah’s journey from everywoman to the ultimate action heroine doubtlessly makes her the best character in the Terminator franchise.

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  Terminator

  In 1984, a human soldier is tasked to stop an indestructible cyborg killing machine, both sent from 2029, from executing a young woman, whose unborn son is the key to humanity’s future salvation.

  Release Date

  October 26, 1984

  Runtime

  107 minutes

• 

  Terminator 2: Judgment Day

  Directed by James Cameron, Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a direct sequel to the original Terminator and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Patrick, and Linda Hamilton. In this installment, John Connor is being hunted by an advanced Skynet prototype from the future. Thankfully, he receives help from a reprogrammed T-800 sent back in time by the resistance to protect him.

  Release Date

  July 3, 1991

  Runtime

  137 Minutes

• 

  Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)

  A highly advanced Terminator is sent back in time to kill an adult John Connor and his future lieutenants, including his future wife Kate Brewster.

  Director

  Jonathan Mostow

  Release Date

  July 2, 2003

  Writers

  James Cameron , Gale Anne Hurd , John D. Brancato , Michael Ferris , Tedi Sarafian

  Runtime

  109 minutes

• 

  Terminator Salvation

  In post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor is one of the leaders of the human resistance fighting against the ever-growing army of machines intent on wiping out mankind. After young Kyle Reese befriends Marcus Wright, a former death row inmate, John Connor discovers Skynet’s plan to terminate Reese before he can travel back in time. The military leader is forced to scour the war-torn wasteland to find his teenage father to ensure his own survival.

  Director

  McG

  Release Date

  May 21, 2009

  Writers

  Michael Ferris , John Brancato

  Runtime

  115 minutes

• 

  Terminator Genisys

  Terminator: Genysis reboots James Cameron’s Terminator franchise by rewriting the events of the original movie. This time, Emilia Clarke’s Sarah Connor already knows why Jai Courtney’s Kyle Reese has been sent back in time, and an older T-800, once again played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, helps them in their quest to prevent an AI uprising.

  Director

  Alan Taylor

  Release Date

  July 1, 2015

  Writers

  Laeta Kalogridis , Patrick Lussier

  Runtime

  2h 6m

• 

  Terminator: Dark Fate

  Terminator: Dark Fate is a direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgement Day, ignoring the rest of the future films to re-canonize the franchise. Set years after Sarah Connor successfully stopped the impending Judgement Day, a new Terminator is sent to destroy the resistance before it forms. Now forced to team up with a former T-800 terminator model, Sarah will seek vengeance and protect Dani Ramos, the new target of Skynet.

  Director

  Tim Miller

  Release Date

  November 1, 2019

  Writers

  Billy Ray , Justin Rhodes , David S. Goyer

  Cast

  Linda Hamilton , Gabriel Luna , Fraser James , Natalia Reyes , Arnold Schwarzenegger , Brett Azar , Steven Cree , Diego Boneta , Mackenzie Davis , Claudia Trujillo

  Runtime

  128 minutes