Terminator Zero has the best Rotten Tomatoes score for the franchise since Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which, in addition to The Sarah Connor Chronicles, confirms that Terminator is better off on TV. Terminator is sadly one of the franchises where there are more disappointing movies than good ones. As groundbreaking as The Terminator and Judgment Day were, it is impossible to deny that all the other movies that came after that missed the mark on some level. Starting with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, the Terminator movies could never quite recapture what made the first two films so good.

On the one hand, it can be argued that Terminator should not have become a franchise and did not need multiple sequels and prequels. On the other hand, Terminator 2 proved beyond doubt that it was possible to take the concepts from the first movie and expand them into something even cooler. There is room for more Terminator stories, but the approaches chosen by films such as Terminator: Salvation and Terminator: Genisys were not what the saga needed. While James Cameron apparently working on Terminator 7 is exciting, the future of the franchise should be on TV.

Terminator Zero Confirms Terminator May Be Better Off On TV

Terminator’s Anime Was Much Better Than Previous Movies

Terminator Zero has an 86% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest for a Terminator project since T2. Terminator Zero’s reception is much better than that of the films released after T2, most of which have a “rotten” score on the famous review aggregator. The best-received Terminator movie since T2 was Terminator: Dark Fate, which has a 70% critic score and an 82% audience score. The fact that Terminator Zero has received much better reviews than its predecessors, particularly Salvation and Genisys, confirms that taking Terminator back to television was the right decision.

Terminator Movies/TV Shows
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score(%)
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score(%)

The Terminator
100
89

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
91
95

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
70
46

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
85
86

Terminator: Salvation
33
54

Terminator: Genisys
26

52

Terminator Dark Fate
70
82

Terminator Zero
86
79

The Terminator franchise first jumped to television in 2006 with The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Set after T2 but disregarding the events of Rise of the Machines, The Sarah Connor Chronicles worked as the proper Terminator 2 sequel that never happened on the big screen. While Terminator Zero and The Sarah Connor Chronicles are very different shows – one is anime and the other is a live-action procedural after all – they both highlight how well the Terminator universe fits on TV. Despite the scale of the Terminator universe, it welcomes “smaller” stories surprisingly well.

James Cameron was not involved with Terminator Zero.

Terminator Zero’s anime format meant that it did not have to worry about what it could pull off or not in terms of visuals. Still, the cool action sequences and the visuals were just part of the reason why Terminator Zero was so good. The Netflix anime did not ignore nostalgia entirely but still brought something fresh to the franchise, combining classic Terminator tropes with fresh ideas. Terminator Zero’s cast was formed by original characters instead of bringing back the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s T-800 or yet another version of John Connor.

It’s No Coincidence Terminator’s Best Projects Since T2 Were TV Shows

The Sarah Connor Chronicles And Terminator Zero Got A Lot Right

Custom image by Yeider Chacon

Big-budget movies associated with a famous IP have certain expectations to meet that might make it difficult for them to be a truly fresh, exciting story. Given how popular the Terminator movies are, it is no surprise that every sequel ends up bringing back at least a couple of characters or concepts from previous entries. For example, the T-800 and its many variations have so far appeared in every Terminator movie. Likewise, John Connor has been in every Terminator film since T2, whereas Sarah Connor missed Terminator 3 and Salvation but was included in Genisys and Dark Fate.

While Terminator Zero never namedrops John Connor, it implies that Skynet and humanity have been on a loop involving time travel.

TV shows don’t have to deal with those same expectations, which often gives them more creative freedom compared to a blockbuster film. The Sarah Connor Chronicles had a significant budget for a TV show, but it was a smaller project compared to the movies. This means that, while the first Terminator show did not necessarily have the resources to have a scene like the T-1000 melting and putting itself together every episode, it had enough time to tell a fun Terminator story.

Terminator Zero had even fewer constraints than The Sarah Connor Chronicles considering that it was animated. Additionally, Terminator Zero’s timeline distanced itself just enough from that of the movies by establishing that every change to the past essentially creates a new version of the story. While Terminator Zero never namedrops John Connor, it implies that Skynet and humanity have been on a loop involving time travel. This allowed the series to tell its own story without worrying about how it would fit the larger Terminator canon.

Terminator Zero Deserves A Better Fate Than The Sarah Connor Chronicles

The Sarah Connor Chronicles Was Canceled Too Soon

Terminator Zero’s ending is self-contained enough but leaves the door open for the story to continue. Similarly to the first Terminator film, the Netflix anime ends with the message that the future hasn’t been written yet and can always be changed. Kokoro saved Japan from Judgment Day, but the fate of humanity is left open. Malcolm Lee is dead, but his kids – and his mother from the future – will now have to survive in the middle of a war involving Skynet, Kokoro, and humanity. There are more than enough ingredients for Terminator Zero season 2 to work.

Sadly, The Sarah Connor Chronicles was canceled after just two seasons. The show never got a proper ending and could have led to a lot of great stories that unfortunately never happened. Hopefully, Terminator Zero will have better luck than the franchise’s first TV show. While the anime series would work just fine as a standalone story, it would be a shame not to revisit this version of the Terminator universe with a second season. Terminator has a complicated history with sequels, but I’m confident that Terminator Zero season 2 would be a great one.

There Should Be More Terminator TV Shows After The Netflix Anime

Terminator Works On The Small Screen

Custom Image by Yeider Chacon

Terminator Zero should be just one of many Terminator projects for TV. Even if the theatrical movies remain the most important part of the franchise with new installments arriving every few years, the Terminator universe is large enough to welcome stories like Terminator Zero on TV. The Sarah Connor Chronicles came out on a very different TV landscape from what we have today, and it might have been too ambitious for an early 2000s show. However, virtually every major movie franchise has now partially branched to TV, from Marvel and DC to Star Wars.

A big-budget live-action Terminator show echoing projects like The Mandalorian or Andor would be incredibly exciting. The first Terminator film was pretty much a slasher and not a sci-fi epic, meaning that Terminator doesn’t need multiple set pieces and groundbreaking VFX shots in every scene to work. Hopefully, Terminator Zero’s strong reception will lead not only to a second season but also to more Terminator projects for television.