How many Terminator movies are there?

There are 6 films in The Terminator, running from The Terminator (1984) to Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). Watching all of them takes about 12 hours.

What order should I watch Terminator in?

Start with The Terminator (1984) and work through in order. The story and the release dates line up for this saga, so there is only one sensible order.

Which Terminator movie should I watch first?

The Terminator (1984). It is both the first release and the earliest point in the story.

How long does it take to watch all of Terminator?

About 12 hours of screen time across 6 films, or 12h 3m to be exact. At one film a night that is 6 evenings.

Which Terminator films are essential?

The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are the acclaimed core. Later films branch into competing timelines.

Do the sequels share one timeline?

Not really. Dark Fate ignores everything after T2, and Genisys resets the timeline again, so release order is the simplest path.

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Terminator Watch Order

Watch The Terminator in release order, starting with The Terminator (1984) and finishing with Terminator: Dark Fate (2019). The story runs in the same order the films were released, so there is only one order to follow. All 6 films run about 12 hours in total.

Films

12h 3m

Total runtime

1984 to 2019

Years

1.The Terminator
1984 · 1h 48m
The lean original that sets up Sarah Connor, Skynet and the time-travel premise.
2.Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1991 · 2h 17m
The essential sequel, set years later and the point most alternate timelines branch from.
3.Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
2003 · 1h 49m
Continues on from T2 and starts one of the competing timelines the later films abandon.
4.Terminator Salvation
2009 · 1h 55m
Skips ahead to the future war itself, following the timeline established by the third film.
5.Terminator Genisys
2015 · 2h 6m
A partial reboot that revisits the first film's events and resets continuity again.
6.Terminator: Dark Fate
2019 · 2h 8m
A direct sequel to T2 that ignores everything between, so those middle films are optional.

Which order is right for you

Watching Terminator in order

Because the Terminator films are all about time travel, there is no clean in-universe timeline, and several sequels reboot or ignore the ones before them. The clearest way to watch is release order, which is why chronological and release order are treated as the same here. Start with the 1984 original.

Release order follows the real-world dates the films came out. It is usually the safest choice for a first watch, because every reveal, cameo, and callback lands the way audiences experienced it at the time.

The Terminator is one of the straightforward ones. The story moves forward with each release, so the chronological timeline and the release timeline are the same list. Start at the top and work down.

Planning a marathon? Work out the schedule with the Binge Watch Calculator, or browse every franchise watch order.