THE TERMINATOR Producer Reveals Why a Pivotal Scene Was Cut From the Film

40 years after James Cameron’s The Terminator was released, producer Gale Ann Hurd has revealed why a pivotal scene ended up being cut from the film. It was a scene that would’ve actually explained away some of the franchise plot holes. The deleted scene included financier friends of the studio, and it didn’t quite work out.

Hurd explained on X: "The Terminator financier John Daly's Hemdale had an output deal with Orion Pictures, but hadn’t yet made a hit (that changed with our film and Platoon). They insisted we use financier friends not actors in this scene, which ruined it for us."

The scene that was cut actually feeds into the Terminator 2 storyline of Cyberdyne Systems developing Skynet by showing how the company acquired the CPU chip that would ultimately lead to the demise of mankind. The scene is only a minute long and it shows how Cyberdyne Systems came to be in possession of the microchip that is ultimately placed inside the terminators.

Hurd added: “I think [Daly] insisted they be in the film because the financiers were promised a return on their investment and had yet to receive one. Daly never believed the film would be a success.”

Hurd explained that Cameron “was never satisfied with ‘just ok’, even back then!" He wasn’t happy with how the scene turned out and cut it because it just wasn’t up to his standard. You can watch the scene below.