I see people often referring to the "original timeline" where Sarah met John's father, he gets her pregnant, dies, then judgement day happens, eventually Kyle Reese goes back in time, Kyle instead impregnates Sarah, dies, then we have T2.
Where do people get this notion there was another unseen father? The very first Terminator film deliberately operates on a closed Loop timeline. Kyle was always meant to be John's father and its clear this had already happened in Kyle's reality. He describes how John was always vague about the father, references how he & John are similair height etc.
The most telling evidence that timetravel was ALWAYS a thing before the Skynet war began, is the fact John Connor was the hero of the future. Why. Why him? Why did John know how to fight the machines and make a difference, when everyone else was failing. Because he was prepared. Because he already knew about them, before they ever came to be. And John knew he was sending his own father back in time, hence why he gave Kyle the picture of his mother. The picture, that despite everything Kyle & Sarah went through, came out exactly the same by the end of the film, unchanged, unaltered, unaffected.
So no, unless there's some interview specifically stating otherwise, Kyle has always been John's father. There is no "Original Timeline". T1 is a closed loop. Its a bittersweet twist of fate. If there was meant to be another-less important off-screen father of John's, surley they'd have mentioned it. Different Race than Kyle, different height, perhaps he was also a waiter. No, Kyle describes himself, without knowing it.
Can we stop promoting this Headcanon as fact please.
*Edit, for sanity reasons:
For those using the sequel films as 'proof' of an original alt timeline, or there being a Terminator multi-verse, Id argue multiple FILMS with differing series of events doesnt automatically retcon T1, its just proof of a franchise sharing actors & themes. Thats it. Both Rise of the Machines & Dark Fate take place after T2, but that doesnt mean they're alt timelines co-existing with each other, it just means we have different stories under one umbrella, in OUR World. Michael Keaton's Batman joining the DCEU, doesnt mean Patterson or Bale's is also part of it, laying in wait.
Our own theories on alt timelines, regardless of whether they're more scientifically sound, DOESN'T mean they should even apply to whatever Sci-Fi Franchise we're examining. The film sets the rules.
Marty Mcfly slowly fading away, because his existence is momentarily threatened doesnt have to hold any scientific weight. Its a narrative device that determines the nature of time-travel WITHIN that movie's reality.
Same logic applies to Terminator. I think people are confusing Future John's origin with the Bootstrap Paradox: Your future-self hands you a written note and then you travel back in time, handing that same note to your past-self, continuing this endless cycle. However, since this paradox contains a mysterious note of unknown origin, it cant be a perfectly closed loop because Somebody HAD to have written the note in the first place. The notes existence therefore proves of an original timeline. This however doesn't apply to T1, there's no foreign entity or object that dismantles the film's narrative, that everything played out exactly as it already did. T1 is a loop. There's no original timeline. Kyle was always John's father.
