When Terminator: Dark Fate was released in theaters back in 2019, it failed to reinvigorate the Terminator franchise, leaving the future of the franchise still unclear. At the time, there had been a lot of excitement from fans leading up to its release based on the returns of major players from the most popular movie in the series, Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Joining Arnold Schwarzenegger in the new film was Linda Hamilton to reprise her role as Sarah Connor, and many fans were also happy to hear Edward Furlong would also be returning as John Connor.

As those who've seen the film now know, the return of Furlong as John Connor was not something they should have gotten too excited about. The character (SPOILER ALERT) is terminated in the early scenes of the film thanks to a body double using the teenage likeness of Furlong. For many longtime fans of the franchise, the scene had immediately turned them off, making it difficult to enjoy the rest of the film. Hyping Furlong's return just for the character to be killed off in this way felt like a bait-and-switch for some viewers and it was heavily criticized by both filmgoers and critics.

In an interview with Alex Lebya on YouTube, Furlong opens up on what happened with Terminator: Dark Fate. He is not quite as critical of the scene as the fans have been, as he was still recovering from heavy drug use and was not physically prepared to star in an action movie.

"I understood it, because it was right when I first got sober. So, I understood sort of what my life decisions had brought me to at that point. And I really wasn't in a place, when they were making that, that I could have done that. I mean, I was busy doing a lot of heroin."

Related: Explained: What Happened to The Terminator Franchise?

Returning as John Connor Would Be "Awesome," But It Wasn't Meant to Be

Edward Furlong Will Return as John Connor in Terminator: Dark Fate

When Terminator 2: Judgment Day was released, there were no plans at the time to make any more Terminator movies. That changed when production began on the 2003 sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines with Arnold Schwarzenegger back as a new Terminator. Because Furlong's substance abuse issues had been flaring up at the time, he was similarly unable to return as John Connor, leading to the Nick Stahl replacing him in the sequel. The character has since been portrayed by Christian Bale and Jason Clarke in other Terminator sequels.

While Furlong understands that he couldn't have played a major role in Terminator: Dark Fate, he says he still had a bad feeling about killing off his character. He recognized how popular Terminator 2 has always been and had observed from fans how excited people were to see the original John Connor's return after other actors had been taking turns with the role. With that said, while Furlong gets the decision to have him sit out the film, he doesn't deny that it would have been "awesome" to be able to do a new Terminator film.

"Personally, I thought, 'This is not going to go over well.' I kind of figured, with the fan base, because I knew that Terminator 2 is such a big thing, and when they said I was in it, people came up and said, 'I'm so glad you're in the movie!' It was kind of like, after all the different John Connors that have played it, and I messed up, I kind of got back what I felt like was rightfully mine. So, it was nostalgic. Would I have loved it if I got to be in a new Terminator and did the whole movie and made more money than I did, and probably still be making money? Yeah, that'd be awesome. That'd be really awesome."

The good news is that Furlong has been getting his acting career back on track after keeping himself sober. In July, he announced that he has celebrated four years of sobriety. Furlong has even completed filming on his next movie, a film called Charlie's Horse from director Brad Keller. Perhaps it's just the start of a career revival with many more roles to come.