Sarah Connor (Terminator)

Terminator film series

Sarah is a Los Angeles college student and waitress pursued by a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 Terminator. She learns she is in danger from a televised report of two identically named women shot to death earlier that day. She is rescued by time-travelling soldier Kyle Reese, who explains that in the future an artificial intelligence called Skynet will become self-aware, seize military hardware, and attack humanity. John Connor will lead the Resistance to victory, but Skynet sends an android back to kill John's mother before his birth.

John is Sarah's future son; he sends Reese to protect her. Reese tells Sarah she will train John in the skills to fight Skynet. During their flight, Sarah reciprocates Reese's feelings, and they consummate their relationship, resulting in John's conception. Reese dies fighting the Terminator in a factory, and Sarah crushes the Terminator in a hydraulic press.

Inspired by Reese, she develops skills to mentor John. Pregnant and a fugitive, she makes a voice recording for John. A boy takes a photograph that she buys; John will give this photo to Reese before sending him back in time.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (2008–2009)

In the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Lena Headey portrays an alternate future version of Sarah Connor; her appearances in the first two Terminator films are considered part of this continuity. In November 2005, 20th Century Fox announced the series featuring the adventures of Sarah and her son after Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Headey was chosen in November 2006. The choice was criticized by fans and critics who said she bore no resemblance to the athletic, muscular character portrayed by Linda Hamilton; the controversy was covered by the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Herald, The Guardian, and an online fan group.

Series creator Josh Friedman auditioned over 300 actresses, seeking someone who embodied the spirit and was believable, not a glammed-up Hollywood actress. After a friend recommended Headey, Friedman watched her audition tape and thought she was a tough woman. Headey, aware of the character's iconic status, said Linda Hamilton would always be the original but hoped people would embrace her fresh take. She described her approach as playing a single mother raising a teenage son who also saves the world, aiming to be honest within the boundaries of the character.

Other appearances

Linda Hamilton returned as Sarah Connor for T2-3D: Battle Across Time, a 1996 Universal Studios attraction. In that story, which takes place after the second movie, Sarah and her son John break into Cyberdyne Systems to stop Skynet from being built, but a T-1000 intercepts them. John then travels to the future with a T-800, destroys Skynet, and comes back to the present to reunite with his mother. The T2 novel trilogy covers Sarah and John's hidden life.

The first book, T2: Infiltrator, is set six years after Terminator 2. Sarah and a sixteen-year-old John live in Paraguay under fake names, running a trucking company. John attends military school and picks up combat and hacking skills. Their neighbor is Dieter von Rossbach, a former Austrian counterterrorism agent who will later become the model for the T-800.

After Sarah explains the future war, a new T-800 attacks them, sent by a new Terminator model called the i-950 Infiltrator Serena Burns. With Dieter's help, they try again to stop Skynet. FBI agent Jordan Dyson, brother of Miles Dyson, initially hunts the Connors for his brother's death but changes sides after seeing the Terminators. Sarah is badly hurt by Serena but survives thanks to Dyson's care. John and Dieter escape back to Paraguay, and Dyson discovers a backup Cyberdyne facility in Montana.