1 of 7 | Arnold Schwarzenegger, seen at the 2025 premiere of Season 2 of his Netflix show "FUBAR" in Los Angeles, starred in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." File Photo by Greg Grudt/UPI | License Photo
LOS ANGELES, May 18 (UPI) -- Terminator 2: Judgment Day, returning to theaters Friday, exponentially expanded the dramatic possibilities of its predecessor. The Terminator is a great film and Terminator 2 sowed the seeds it planted in ways rarely equalled.
Ten years after a terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from the future tried to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), her son John Connor (Edward Furlong) is living with foster parents. An advanced T-1000 arrives to eliminate John, but future John programmed a T-800 terminator (Schwarzenegger) to protect him.
Schwarzenegger as the hero was supposed to be a surprise but the trailers gave it away months ahead of time. T-800s have been heroes ever since, though in 2019's Terminator: Dark Fate, only after he completed his evil mission.
It wasn't too great a stretch. In the seven years since 1984's The Terminator, Schwarzenegger had been the hero in Commando, Predator, The Running Man, Total Recall and even Twins and Kindergarten Cop.
