John Connor

John Connor is a fictional character in the Terminator franchise. Created by writer and director James Cameron, the character is first referred to in the 1984 film The Terminator and first appears in its 1991 sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day (T2). In the character's first appearance, John is portrayed by Edward Furlong as a child, and briefly by Michael Edwards as an adult in a small role. Other actors have portrayed the character in subsequent films, including Nick Stahl, Christian Bale, and Jason Clarke. In addition, Thomas Dekker portrayed John Connor in the television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Over the years, there have been multiple discrepancies, discussions and confusion over the age of John Connor.

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the police computer the T-1000 uses lists John's date of birth as February 28, 1985, consistent with his conception in The Terminator, taking place in May 1984, making him a 10-year-old in T2. However, this is contradicted in T2 when the reprogrammed Terminator tells John he will send it back through time "35 years from now". This would mean the movie is set in 1994 when John is a 9-year-old. Later on it also states that Judgment Day will happen "in three years time", in August 1997. However, the Terminator may have been rounding up.

In the opening narration of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, John states that he was attacked by the T-1000 when he was thirteen. Furthermore, he tells the T-101 that Cyberdyne was destroyed "over 10 years ago", which would make him several years older than what was previously established in the earlier films. This was a mistake made by T3's director, who chose to make the character older to match Edward Furlong's age in T2. The synopsis on several T3 DVD covers also incorrectly state that John is 22.

In the pilot episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, taking place in August 1999, John is fifteen, stating it has been 2 years since they blew up Cyberdyne (T2 taking place in 1997 in the show, rather than 1995). After time traveling to 2007 with Sarah and Cameron, John turns sixteen in the first season's last episode, placing his date of birth on November 13, 1983, a full seven months before his supposed conception. As the show's last episode takes place in 2009, this would mean John turns seventeen off-screen. In the season 2 episode Today Is the Day, Part 2, John incorrectly states he was 12 when T2 took place, contradicting the pilot episode's statement of it being 2 years since the events of T2 and John being fifteen. As the events of T2 took place in 1997 in the show's timeline, this would be consistent with his date of birth shown in the film.

The opening scene of Terminator: Dark Fate takes place 3 years after T2, in 1998. Despite John being 3 years older, he hasn't aged as much as he should have. This is likely a mistake made by the film's production team, using Edward Furlong's physical template from T2 to recreate his facial likeness from 1991.