When Arnold Schwarzenegger entered the industry as the Terminator, nobody knew that one day this would become a superhit film franchise and would also establish the actor as one of the most successful villains of all time. The former governor of California is famous for his fictional character T-800, about whom there are still a lot of theories floating around.

One of the most discussed theories about him is whether killing the character of T-800 is possible. The answer to this lies in the mechanism of the formidable robotic assassin and soldier, aka the Terminator. The robot T-800 is a replaceable automaton; therefore, unlike the main characters in most franchises, killing the villain is a tough task.

It is impossible to “kill off” the initial antagonist from The Terminator in the traditional sense. The T-800 is quickly interchangeable, and there are always more nearly identical copies to take its place. Hence, even the idea of killing him does not stand a chance.

So, if the makers of the Terminator franchise want to replace him with another villain, they are only left with one option and that is to retire him. But has there ever been any moves to replace him?

Which film of the Terminator franchise tried to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger?

The makers of the film made an attempt to tell the story of the Terminator in a different way in the 2009 release Terminator Salvation. The film did not show Schwarzenegger’s T-800 and switched to a post-apocalyptic war narrative instead of the modern chase thriller model.

Schwarzenegger’s T-800 did appear in a sequence in Terminator: Salvation, confirming the fact that the franchise won’t work well without featuring its iconic star. However, it was not a real Schwarzenegger but his CGI face that was shown in the film. However, the film did not do well at the box office.

This makes one thing clear that the former bodybuilder is the soul of The Terminator franchise. The credit goes to the minds behind the idea that T-800 is replaceable with its innumerous copies, thus featuring the 75-year-old actor whenever required.

What do you think of the idea of the T-800 being irreplaceable? Tell us in the comments.