Comic-Con is officially underway; the first big panel in Hall H is dedicated to Terminator: Dark Fate, the upcoming sixth film in the long-running sci-fi franchise. And the panel began with a big surprise: Producer and co-writer (not to mention franchise creator) James Cameron revealed to the audience that Edward Furlong is making his long-awaited return to the franchise with this movie.

Furlong played the young John Connor, the future leader of humanity’s resistance against Skynet and its sentient machine army, in 1991’s iconic Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Furlong, an untrained actor before he was discovered by a casting director, went on to a long career in Hollywood, but hasn’t reappeared in a Terminator project since his performance in the T-2 3-D attraction formerly at Universal Studios amusement park. John Connor was subsequently played by Nick Stahl in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Christian Bale in Terminator: Salvation, and Jason Clarke in Terminator: Genisys. The lack of Connor continuity (connor-nuity?) is one of the big problems with these sequels; Connor changes not only how he looks but how he acts from movie to movie. So it will be great to see Furlong back in the role.

Terminator: Dark Fate opens in theaters on November 1.

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