Every movie since T2 has tried to introduce a new actor as the face of the franchise, but, unsurprisingly, no one has been able to replace Arnold Schwarzenegger. When he was introduced as the villain in the first movie, Schwarzenegger was just an up-and-coming actor making his name in Hollywood. By the time James Cameron helmed the sequel, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Schwarzenegger was the world’s biggest movie star, sitting comfortably at the top of the A-list. His T-800 was reprogrammed to be a hero and solidified his place as the star of the franchise.

But ever since then, the Terminator movies have made futile attempts to replace Schwarzenegger and pass the baton to a new headlining star. Around the time of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Schwarzenegger’s political career cast doubt on his future with the franchise. In that movie and every one that followed, the filmmakers introduced a new character who could inherit the role of franchise star from Schwarzenegger — in almost all cases, there were plans for soft reboots and full trilogies with these actors — but, for one reason or another, they all failed to successfully replace the Austrian Oak.

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines skipped ahead a decade from the events of T2. Sarah Connor was killed off-screen by a terminal illness and her now-grownup son John is living off the grid, paranoid that he’s still being hunted by Skynet’s footsoldiers from the future, despite having destroyed Cyberdyne Systems. Nick Stahl replaced Edward Furlong in the role of John as he reteamed with a T-800 and embarked on another action-packed adventure to shut down Skynet. Terminator 3 ended with the revelation that the rise of Skynet and the nuclear holocaust are inevitable.