Terminator 2: Judgment Day star, Edward Furlong, has always been pretty vocal about his eagerness to return to the franchise that made him a household name in the nineties and kicked off an acting career which would see him performing alongside some big, big Hollywood names. But the actor’s reputation and personal life have been marred by drug related controversies over the years – a factor which has severely limited the types of roles he has been offered.
When James Cameron told excited Terminator Fans at SDCC 2019 that Edward Furlong would be back as John Connor for Terminator: Dark Fate, the news spread through the internet like wildfire, but the rumors were already swirling that John Connor would be terminated at the very beginning of the movie.
In a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) Tim Miller was asked to clarify John Connor’s role. The director stated:
“All I’m gonna say is that John is in the movie… in a very interesting way. I don’t want to give away, I can’t give away the way he’s in the movie or what happens because, ya know, you gotta come to the theater for some reason, right?.”
Tim Miller
Though it seems that Eddie wasn’t really in the right headspace to return to the legendary role of the leader of the human resistance John Connor, as when he was asked about only returning for one day of filming (for facial capture) on Terminator 6, he said:
“I understood, because it was right when I first got sober, so I understood sort of what my life, uh, my life decisions had brought me to at that point, so I mean- and I really wasn’t in a, in a place when they were making that that I could’ve done that- I mean I was… I was busy doing a lot of, uh, heroin, you know what I mean?”
Edward Furlong told Alex Leyba – Transcribed by TheTerminatorFans.com
Back in 2019, Edward Furlong explained that drugs had also played a big part in the recasting of John Connor for Terminator 3: ROTM. He stated:
“I was part of the project [T3] and had a very nice deal but then I guess to celebrate I went out and overdosed on coke and kind of destroyed that whole thing. BUT…. I learned my lesson and I’m back on track.”
Edward Furlong
The T2 star on his feelings on the death of John Connor at the beginning of Terminator: Dark Fate, Edward said:
“Personally, I thought this is not going to go over well. I, I kind of figured like, you know, like,- with the fan base, because I mean, because I knew that Terminator 2 is such a big… you know, thing, and, and when they said, when they said I was in it and like people came up and were like ‘oh my god! I’m so glad you’re in the movie!’ I was like *sucks teeth* ‘yeah… ‘. It was kind of like after all the different John Connor’s that have played it, like, and I messed up like, I kinda brought… you know, got back, sort of like what I felt like was rightfully mine, you know what I mean?
Edward Furlong – Transcribed by TheTerminatorFans.com
So, it was nostalgic you know, I mean would I have loved it if like I got to be in the new, you know, Terminator and did the whole movie and made more money than I did, and uh, you know, probably still be making money… ? yeah! I would love that that would be awesome, that’d be really awesome though.”
On the Terminator fanbase reaction to John Connor’s death:
“I knew it was gonna be, um, I, I had a feeling that it was gonna be uh, it was, it was going to piss people off. People are so invested in that character by the end of the movie [T2], it’s like you know a lot of people my age grew up with that character and everything, so, you know I was kind of like ‘oh my god, you’re gonna blast them with the shotgun, a 13 /14 year old kid, all right, that could be… all right.”
Edward Furlong – Transcribed by TheTerminatorFans.com
Terminator: Dark Fate director, Tim Miller, on the decision the kill off John Connor:
“Oddly enough, not Jim, not a single writer, uh, not Linda, not anybody – but perhaps Eddie Furlong, had anything at all to say but ‘Oh yeah, this seems like the right way to do it.’”
Tim Miller told TIFF
There’s nothing to say that, had Mr. Furlong been clean and sober back when Terminator: Dark Fate was TBA, that it might have made a difference – the studios cards were clearly already on the table as far as wiping the slate clean and resetting the franchise to a new and uncertain future, one with a more female-centric story to lead into that pre-planned three-picture-arc.
But, having said that, sober is better. So it’s a shame that we’ll never know.
Do you think Edward Furlong deserves another shot at the mantle of John Connor?
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10 Comments
Props to you Edward furlong for kicking the habit!!!-
He didn’t. He’s still an addict, along with his girlfriend, Monica Keena.
I’m really glad he’s doing better . I do think it really sucks he wasn’t John in the original T3, with his age at the time it would have made sense and been great . I don’t think he should play John again at this point though, and it has nothing to do with him. T2 already established fully adult John as Michael Edwards. I would have preferred if they were going to kill off John , that he died heroically as an adult , with Edwards in the role for continuity with T2 . He recently reprised John in a fan film ,and although I didn’t really care for the plot of that film it showed me he could have played an older , adult John. Maybe he was part of the war with legion, and came from a more distant future as a last resort after humanity lost the war due to legion being more advanced. Maybe Dani played a key role in potentially winning the war , more important than John was in his original war , since he already “ destroyed “ Skynet in T2. It would be more of a “ passing of the torch “ with him dying as an adult , and it would have gone over much more favorably. Honestly this could still be done, terminator is all about changing the future and time travel after all. Someone needs to go back and prevent John’s death in the next film, to set things back on course, then have adult John ( played by Edwards) in the role. Probably won’t happen but that’s how I’d fix it if I owned terminator.
Having Mr. Furlong come back and be the main character of ‘Dark Fate’ would have made all the difference in the world. Following a now-adult John trying to get through life while still struggling with some PTSD from his experiences as a child, and then having to step up one last time to save the world again would have made such a great story… A shame we never got to see that happen.
Even after the disaster of ‘Dark Fate,’ I think most of the fandom would love to see Mr. Furlong return to the role of John, even if it’s only in a fan film, like how Michael Edwards returned to reprise the role of old John in ‘SKYNET’ by Chris .R. Notarile. I hope that he does.
I feel like this headline is a misinterpretation of what Furlong said. It seems clear to me he means not that he “couldn’t do Dark Fate due to heroin” but rather that the studio didn’t want to take a chance on him because he was newly sober and his reputation preceded him, a fact he found unfortunate but understood.
You know something since David Ellison & Dana Goldberg did Terminator 5 against John Connor play Jason Clarke he becomes T-3000 in part 5? Why not the elder one played by Michael Edwards show up as a T-3000 in part 6? It really makes no sense at all since James Cameron produced both Terminators after he directed 3 times same as David & Dana. With Brett Azar played a younger T-800 Terminator version of Arnold himself twice why isn’t he wearing a same clothes from T5 he’s wear a different clothes in 1998 that took place from 1973 in Genisys it makes damn made no sense based on Terminator 2 it sucks. That couldn’t make Sarah Connor played Linda Hamilton understand like that in T6.
And also Kyle Reese should be in Dark Fate in 2020 as a child with his family instead of Genisys in 2017 when Sarah Connor recognizes him who was send by john to protect her back in 1984 it should sense.
J’aimerai le revoir et les studios si ils n’ont pas pris le risque de le reprendre dans son rôle malgré sa défigure à la drogue je pense que sa présence à l’histoire au côté de sarah connor (linda hamilton) aurait complétement changé la base de fan et aurait ramené dark fate plus haut dans le box office !
personally in my opinion replacing Edward Furlong with somebody better suited perfectly to take on the role of an older John Connor would also have to involve 10 things
1 having John Connor preparing his kids to be a worthy successor
2 having John Connor be portrayed perfectly by somebody better and more physically fit
3 not having Sarah and Kyle involved as a way of not repeating past events
4 having the narration by Sarah Connor feed into the whole storyline
5 having the future war conclude with in a way that would spot on perfect
7 having John Connor’s kids succeed their father
8 tell interesting stories that have very little to do with the Connors after their storyline concluded
9 explore the use of Skynet and the machines in a crossover in a Cyberpunk world
10 do something really that good when you introduce new characters in a way that makes sense
Nein. Ich denke Edward Furlong ist als Erwachsener nicht mal mehr ein Schatten eines Schauspielers. Im fehlt Charisma und er macht es, wie er sagt, nicht weil er eine Berfung darin findet, sondern nur als Geldverdienstmöglichkeit.
Armer Furlong.
Ich will ihn nicht als häslichen Erwachsener sehen. Und ich will kein Frauen Terminator mehr sehen.
Macht Terminator 2 3D Across Time (Future War) mit einem neuen Jugendschauspieler. Das wollen die Fans sehen!
Google-Trans…
no I think Edward Furlong isn’t even a shadow of an actor anymore as an adult. He lacks charisma and, he says, does it not because he finds a vocation in it, but only as a money-making opportunity.
Poor Furlong.
I don’t want to see him as an ugly adult. And I don’t want to see any more women’s terminators.
Make Terminator 2 3D Across Time (Future War) with a new teenage actor. That’s what the fans want to see!