SPOILER WARNING: This article contains massive spoilers for Terminator: Genisys. If you haven’t seen the film yet, and don’t wish for elements of it to be ruined, please click away to another one of our wonderful articles!
After seeing Terminator: Genisys it’s understandable if you start asking yourself the question, "When the hell did Matt Smith’s character come from?" He appears in the first act of the film and attacks John Connor just as Kyle Reese is being sent back in time, and while he identifies himself as Skynet, the movie doesn’t exactly make it clear how he is Skynet or where the hell he came from. Fortunately, the writers of the movie have been making the press rounds, and they’ve explained the whole situation. Basically, he’s a timeline jumper.
During the press day for Terminator: Genisys in Los Angeles last weekend, Crave Online asked Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier about Matt Smith’s Skynet, and they helped make it a bit clearer as to where the character has come from. Putting it bluntly, Kalogridis said,
He’s not from this timeline. He’s from an alternate universe, in the multiverse, another of the many universes that exist. That Skynet is not from that timeline.
Going further, they explained that this particular version of Skynet has seen into many timelines where the machines have taken over, but ultimately failed to demolish the human race. In order to try and fix this, he realizes that he has to go after the greatest weapon that the humans have: John Connor.
Kalogridis added that this element of the character is explained within one particular line of dialogue that he says when John is being transformed. She explained,
This Skynet has been to this universe, and this universe, and this universe. That’s why he says, ‘I came a very long way to stop you.’ He’s not from here. So he’s watched it. He’s watched it happen a bunch of different times, and each time he’s seen it there is a different result but the same result.
Basically, what we’re seeing at the start of Terminator: Genisys is the timeline from the James Cameron’s original Terminator, but it’s evidently this timeline in particular that Matt Smith’s Skynet realizes that he can disrupt with his presence and by corrupting John Connor.
Were you confused about exactly where Matt Smith’s Skynet was from while watching Terminator: Genisys? Did this help answer some of your questions? How do you think this important fact is going to affect the upcoming sequels? Perhaps most importantly of all, what if this means that Skynet is a Time Lord? Hit the comments with your thoughts, feelings, and opinions!
