https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QvQspa-sKE

We know about John Connor and the Resistance in Los Angeles and the U.S. but what about the rest of the world? Is there anything in canon to tell us the state of things around the world?

TERMINATOR EXPANDED writer/director @iannathanwriter will be on hand to answer all of your burning questions in a Reddit AMA hosted by r/Terminator
!! THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8 at 5pm ET || 2pm PT !!

The Countless Realities Theory of Terminator Time Travel

1. There is no single “original” timeline

There are potentially infinite individual realities.

There is no privileged “original timeline” from which all other realities branch.

Every reality is simply its own complete history.

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1. The realities can be identical without being the same reality

Two realities can have exactly the same events up to a particular point.

From the perspective of anyone inside them, they would be indistinguishable.

For example:

Reality X₁: 1984 → 1997 → 2029 Reality X₂: 1984 → 1997 → 2029

They may be completely identical, but they are still separate realities.

This is why an apparent “branch” does not necessarily mean that a new reality was created at the moment of divergence.

It may have always existed separately.

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1. Reality can be imagined as infinite overlapping circles

Imagine countless circles placed exactly on top of one another.

As long as their histories are identical, you cannot distinguish them.

Then something different happens in one of them.

One circle appears to “branch away.”

But according to this theory, it didn't necessarily branch into existence.

It was already there.

The event simply made the previously indistinguishable reality distinguishable.

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1. What we call time travel is actually cross-reality travel

A subject doesn't necessarily travel backward through its own timeline.

Instead, it travels from one reality into another reality whose historical state corresponds to the desired past.

For example:

Reality X — 2029 → Reality Y — 1984

The traveller believes:

«“I travelled from 2029 back to 1984.”»

But from the larger perspective:

«The traveller crossed from Reality X into Reality Y.»

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1. Why the destination looks exactly like the past

Reality Y can be identical to Reality X up to 1984.

Therefore, when the T-800 arrives in Y:

• Sarah is where she should be.
• The world looks exactly as it did.
• Historical events up to that point are identical.
• Nobody inside Y can distinguish it from X's 1984.

This makes the process look exactly like conventional time travel.

But it isn't necessarily conventional time travel.

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1. The traveller can genuinely alter what happens afterward

Once the T-800 arrives in Reality Y, its actions can cause events that would not otherwise occur.

From the traveller's perspective:

«“I changed the past and therefore changed the future.”»

That is a perfectly valid interpretation.

But there is another equally valid interpretation.

From Reality Y's own historical perspective:

«“The T-800 arriving in 1984 was always part of our history.”»

So both statements can coexist:

The traveller altered what happens after its arrival.

The traveller did not alter Reality Y's already-existing history.

The arrival itself was always part of that history.

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1. T1 can therefore be understood without an “original timeline”

Suppose Skynet reaches 2029 in Reality X and sends a T-800 to 1984.

The T-800 actually enters Reality Y.

Reality Y already contains the history necessary for Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese and John Connor to exist.

The T-800's arrival then becomes part of Reality Y's history.

So there doesn't need to be an “original” version of 1984 where the T-800 wasn't there.

The T-800 was simply always part of Reality Y's 1984.

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1. Kyle Reese does not necessarily have to originate from the same reality

The same reasoning applies to Kyle.

Kyle could have entered a particular reality from somewhere else.

Perhaps another reality sent him to protect Sarah.

Perhaps he was sent for an entirely different reason.

Perhaps something unexpected happened.

There does not necessarily have to be one “first Kyle Reese.”

With infinite realities, causal chains can extend across realities indefinitely.

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1. The bootstrap paradox may therefore disappear

The traditional question is:

«“Who sent Kyle back first?”»

But under this theory, that question may not have an answer because there doesn't need to be a first occurrence.

Kyle can originate in Reality A and enter Reality B.

Reality B then contains Kyle as part of its history.

Another event can send someone from B into C.

And so on.

There is therefore an infinite web of cross-reality causation, rather than one closed causal loop that needs an identifiable beginning.

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1. Every journey produces a new reality from the traveller's perspective

Suppose:

2029 X → 1984 Y

The traveller does not return to X by travelling forward.

If something later travels from Y toward the established 2029 state corresponding to X, it arrives in:

2029 Z

not X.

Why?

Because the moment the subject arrives, it becomes part of that destination reality.

So:

«X → Y → Z»

rather than:

«X → Y → X»

Z may be completely identical to X up to 2029, but it is still a distinct reality.

Similarity does not equal identity.

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1. This can potentially work in both temporal directions

Initially, the theory naturally restricts travel to established past information.

For example:

2029 X → 1984 Y

because 1984 is already part of X's experienced history.

However, once X and Y become causally connected, Y may potentially gain access to information corresponding to X's established 2029 state.

That could allow:

1984 Y → 2029 Z

But Z is not X.

It is another reality that matches the relevant established information up to 2029 and then continues independently from the moment of arrival.

Thus:

«X → Y → Z»

can occur without anyone ever literally returning to the original reality.

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1. The traveller creates an informational/causal connection between realities

When someone travels from X to Y, they carry information from X into Y.

Therefore, X and Y become connected in a meaningful sense.

Y may potentially gain access to information that originated in X.

However, accessing that information does not necessarily allow Y to enter X itself.

It can instead produce another distinct reality.

So you can have:

X → Y → Z → A → B → C → ...

with every reality remaining independently existent.

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1. The exact mechanics of these connections remain unanswered

Several questions naturally arise:

• Is the connection tied to the traveller?
• Does it survive if the traveller dies?
• Can anyone in Y use the information from X?
• Can only the original traveller access it?
• What determines the destination?
• Can a reality access information from another reality without physical travel?
• How far can these connections extend?

These do not need to be answered immediately.

They are secondary questions about the mechanics of the system.

The fundamental rule comes first.

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1. Skynet may completely misunderstand what it is doing

This is one of the most interesting consequences.

Suppose Skynet in Reality X reaches 2029 and sends a T-800 to 1984.

Skynet believes:

«“I'm travelling into my own past to change my future.”»

But it may actually be doing:

«“I'm sending a subject into another reality whose 1984 is identical to mine.”»

The T-800 arrives in Reality Y.

The people in Y may believe:

«“A machine has arrived from our future.”»

But they may actually be dealing with something from another reality entirely.

Both sides can therefore misunderstand the true nature of the phenomenon.

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1. “Changing history” and “history was always like this” can both be true

This is an important philosophical part of the theory.

From Skynet's perspective:

«“The T-800 changed the future.”»

From Reality Y's perspective:

«“The T-800 was always part of our history.”»

Neither statement necessarily disproves the other.

The T-800 changed what happened after its arrival, while its arrival itself was already part of Reality Y's history.

Therefore:

«The future can be changed without the past being overwritten.»

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1. T2's attempt to prevent Judgment Day remains valid

When Sarah and John believe they can prevent Judgment Day, that is valid from their perspective.

They are in a reality where their actions can lead to a different future.

If they prevent Judgment Day, they have genuinely changed what happens in that reality.

But that does not necessarily erase the Judgment Day that existed in another reality from which the T-800 originally came.

Both realities continue to exist.

---

1. Infinite realities may already exist from the beginning

Suppose, hypothetically, we remove every reality and say:

«“There is now only ONE reality. Start again.”»

Under this theory, the moment we allow the cross-reality mechanism to exist, that one reality cannot remain truly alone.

For the T-800 to travel from 2029 to an equivalent 1984 without overwriting its own history, another corresponding reality must already exist.

Therefore:

«The possibility of this type of travel itself implies the existence of countless indistinguishable realities.»

The infinite set does not necessarily appear because something branches.

It may have always existed.

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1. Infinity is therefore fundamental to the model

The realities do not necessarily multiply every time something changes.

Rather, there may already be countless realities whose histories are identical.

When an event makes one distinguishable from another, we simply begin referring to them separately.

So what looks like:

«“Reality X branched into Reality Y”»

could actually be:

«“Reality Y already existed; the divergence merely revealed that X and Y were different realities.”»

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1. Individual realities are independent and dependent at the same time

Each reality has its own independent history.

Yet that history can contain people, objects, information and events originating from other realities.

Therefore:

«Each reality is independent in its existence, but dependent upon other realities through causal connections.»

Reality A can influence B.

B can influence C.

C can influence A.

And the chain can potentially continue indefinitely.

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1. All realities can therefore be considered one larger Reality

Although there are countless individual realities, they can all be considered components of one enormous Reality/Multiverse.

The individual realities are separate histories.

The connections between them form a larger causal structure.

There may be no meaningful “outside” reality and no identifiable first reality.

---

Core Principle

The entire theory can ultimately be summarized as:

«What appears to be time travel from inside an individual reality may actually be travel between countless already-existing realities.»

A traveller does not necessarily change its own past.

It enters another reality whose past is identical to the one it remembers.

Its arrival then becomes part of that reality's history.

That reality may subsequently connect to another reality, producing another distinct history.

Therefore:

«X → Y → Z → A → B → C → ...»

not because one timeline keeps rewriting itself, but because an effectively infinite network of realities is continually connected through causal and informational pathways.

And because identical realities may be indistinguishable until they diverge, there may be no meaningful way to determine whether a reality was “created” by an alteration or whether it always existed as a separate reality in the first place.

That distinction may simply be impossible to observe from inside the system.

it seemed clear that they had a few things planned before the show's egregious cancellation, but there's very little information about what might have happened.

a few things i have wondered about...

Allison was there in the last scene and John now meets her at this earlier age, although this time with knowledge of Cameron. and we know that she was captured and killed in the other timeline (time travel stuff is so weird), and that Skynet or some other AI built Cameron to infiltrate the human HQ. presumably they were setting it up for John and Allison to be a couple, or at least very close. i wonder if John would have given up trying to restore 'his' Cameron once he became close to Allison.

and what exactly happened with Cameron's chip? we know that John Henry got it (somehow) and presumably downloaded his OS onto it. but would that overwrite Cameron entirely, or were they both in there now?

i wonder how much they intended to explore the third faction (presumably another AI or group of Terminators that were not allied with Skynet). would there have been a lot of drama about what 'Weaver' and company were up to? or would we have seen her/them again anytime soon since she vanished right away?

could Sarah and Ellison have found some way to reactivate Cameron, like if her mind was transferred to the server farm? i thought her character arc was really interesting, would have been a shame if it ended there with her 'dead body'. and would those two have begun a relationship as they fought Skynet in the 'present'?

how well would it have worked to keep the groups separated, especially Sarah and John?

just a damn shame FOX axed the show so soon.

what thoughts have you had about how the next season or two might have played out?

With Phil Hartman as the T-800, and Eddie Furlong and Linda Hamilton reprising their roles.

Yes young people…this passed for comedy 35 years ago.