John Connor

For other people named John Connor, see John Connor (disambiguation).

John Connor
Terminator films and Sarah Connor Chronicles character
File:JohnConnor.jpg Nick Stahl as John Connor in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
First appearance	Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Created by	James Cameron
Portrayed by	Edward Furlong Nick Stahl Thomas Dekker
In-universe information
Alias	John Reese
Gender	Male
Spouse	Kate Brewster (T3/T4 future)
Children	Daughter (T2 alternate future)
Relatives	Sarah Connor (mother) Kyle Reese (father), Derek Reese (paternal uncle)

John Connor is a fictional character in the science-fiction Terminator franchise.

In a fictional post-apocalyptic future first aluded to in The Terminator, powerful, intelligent machines have dedicated themselves to the eradication of humanity, and John Connor is the leader of the human rebel group Tech-Com that opposes them. Skynet, the supercomputer mainframe of the machines, decides that John Connor is the focal point of the rebellion and his termination would end the opposition. After repeated failures at terminating John during the war, Skynet decides to use a time dilation device to send android assassins called Terminators to various points in John Connor's past in an attempt to terminate him before the war begins.

Although only mentioned in the original The Terminator, in 1991's sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day, pre-teen Connor is portrayed by Edward Furlong and in brief scenes by Michael Edwards depicting Connor as an young adult. In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the character is portrayed by 24-year-old Nick Stahl. Christian Bale is expected to portray an older, war-experienced Connor in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, a fourth installment due to be released in 2009. Outside the films, teenage John Connor is portrayed by Thomas Dekker in the 2008 television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles while in one episode, "Queen's Gambit" a pre-teen John was played by child actor John DeVito in a flashback sequence.

Biography

The Terminator

Main article: The Terminator

The film is set in 1984. The premise is that a T-800 terminator is sent back in time to 1:52 AM on May 12, 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, knowing that she will give birth to John Connor, the leader of the human resistance in the future war. In response, John Connor of the future sends a soldier, Kyle Reese to 2:01 AM on the same day so that Reese can protect his Sarah.

During this time, John is conceived when Reese and Sarah have a brief affair. John is born after the events of the film. Although John is not seen on-screen, Reese relays a message to Sarah from John saying: "Thank you, Sarah, for your courage through the dark years. I can't help you with what you must soon face, except to say that the future is not set. You must be stronger than you imagine you can be. You must survive, or I will never exist."

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Main article: Terminator 2: Judgment Day

The first sequel to The Terminator is set in 1995, during which John is 10 years old. When the film opens, John is living with foster parents, but finds it difficult to settle to a suburban lifestyle and is a juvenile delinquent. Through dialogue, John reveals that he spent the entirety of his early years being prepared by Sarah for his future role as the leader of the human rebellion during the machine war, learning about weapons, computer technology and espionage. In the early portions of the film John is under the impression that Sarah's beliefs are a delusion, and is only when he is confronted by a T-1000 Terminator sent to terminate him does he realize that his mother's stories are true. The T-1000 is sent by Skynet to 4:58 AM on June 8, 1995 to terminate John. As in the first film, a protector is also sent from the future to protect John, but this time it is a a re-programmed T-800, which is sent to 3:14 AM on June 8, 1995.

Over the course of the film, John and the reprogrammed T-800 help Sarah escape from Pescadero Sate Hospital-A Criminally Disordered Retention Facility and team up with Miles Dyson, the man whose research would lead to Skynet's creation, to destroy all of Cyberdyne's research. During their time together John bonds with the T-800, who becomes a friend and father figure to him. Once the T-1000 is destroyed along with all of Cyberdyne's research, the T-800 asks that it be destroyed also so that its technology would not be discovered and used by others.

According to the documentaries in the Terminator 2 Extreme Edition DVD, director James Cameron deliberately kept John "pure" by not allowing him to fire any weapons throughout the course of the film. He is shown to understand weapons, but does not use them in order to depict the character's respect for life. The character's dialogue with the protector Terminator, in which John attempts to teach the machine not to kill, substantiates this depiction.

In an alternate ending included on the Extreme Edition and Ultimate Edition DVDs, an adult John is shown living in a future without Skynet, and he has become a United States senator and a father of a little girl.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

Main article: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

The third film of the series takes place in 2004, and features John Connor as an adult. When the film opens, he reveals in monologue that he has been living off the grid after the events of T2, even as the original Judgment Day deadline of August 29, 1997 came to pass without incident. His mother eventually developed leukemia and died.

In the film, John crosses paths with Katherine Brewster, a former neighbor from when he was living with his foster parents. He is attacked by a T-X Terminator, which was sent to 1:14 AM on July 24, 2004. Unlike its predecessors, the T-X's objective was to terminate Connor's future officers as secondary targets, but when the T-X finds John, it changes its priority to focus on him.

A protector T-850 is also sent back in time from the future to protect John, and it explains that Judgment Day had not been avoided as initially thought, but delayed to 2004. The T-850 also states that it was not sent from the future by John, but by Katherine, who in the future is his wife and second-in-command. The reason for this is because John had actually been killed by that very Terminator on July 4, 2032.

Although John and Katherine spend a significant portion of the film trying to halt the launching of Skynet, they are misled to believe Skynet's core is in an underground facility, only to find themselves locked and protected in a secure bunker as the first nuclear assault is launched on the United States as a result of Skynet's manipulations. It is via the working radios in this bunker that John starts his career as a military leader.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Main article: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

File:Pict 2008-03-04 02-54-472.jpg

Thomas Dekker as John Connor

The series deliberately ignores the story of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and according to consulting producer James Middleton "is [a new] version of T3."

At the beginning of the series in 1999, John and Sarah are trying to settle down to normal lives after the events of T2, but are in fear of being captured for blowing up Cyberdyne during the events of the second film. While at school, John is attacked by a Terminator posing as a teacher, and is protected by a reprogrammed Terminator named "Cameron". John learns that Judgment Day has not been stopped, only postponed to April 22, 2011. John, who does not want to run anymore, asks Sarah to stop Skynet from being created. Cameron uses time dilation technology (built by "The Engineer" from the future) to send all three of them to 2007, just before Skynet is created, so that they can stop it.

Settling down in 2007, John enrolls in high school under the name of John Baum, after author L. Frank Baum who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a book that Sarah says was John's favorite when he was younger. Through a flashback, it is shown that John was taught chess at an early age as part of his training to become a future leader for the resistance.

Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins

Main article: Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins

It has been confirmed that the film will center around an older John Connor in his mid/late twenties. It follows the events of the Sarah Connor Chronciles as he and his pregnant wife; Katherine "Kate" B. Connor set up the human resistance during Judgment Day, in the war against Skynet. Christian Bale has signed up to play him in the fourth movie, and although the story will instead focus on a new character named Marcus, he will in fact be a major supporting character.

External links

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