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The name "Alex" should not be confused with Alex Lopez.
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"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"
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Alex is the physical embodiment of Skynet, housed in a T-5000 Terminator. From an unknown alternate timeline, it infiltrates the Tech-Com unit commanded by John Connor, who leads the Resistance.

History[]

Near the end of war in an unknown alternate future, Skynet developed the T-3000, a human turned into a Machine-Phase Matter Terminator. It later uploaded itself into a T-5000 Terminator and travelled to 2029 of the Original timeline in order to stop John Connor. At a certain point after its arrival, Alex infiltrated Connor's Tech-Com unit and participated in the assault on Time Displacement Device in Los Angeles.

After Connor's unit reached the Time Displacement Chamber, Kyle Reese volunteered to travel to 1984 to save young Sarah Connor. When Connor was seeing Reese off, Alex attacked Connor. While Connor was turning into a T-3000 Infiltrator, Alex killed all the other Tech-Com members and revealed that he was Skynet itself. After brainwashing John Connor, Alex sent him to the alternate 2014 in order to ensure its counterpart's creation, which would be known as "Genisys". Terminator Genisys

It is alleged that at a certain point after the destruction of the Skynet Core in Colorado, Alex re-initiated itself as Skynet and continued its war against humans. Terminator Genisys: Future War

Alternate timeline[]

See also: Genisys

As John Connor brought the source code and future knowledge to Cyberdyne Systems in the alternate 2014, the company was able to restart the Skynet project, now under the name "Genisys", which would be fully online in 2017.

Unknown to Cyberdyne Systems, John had been secretly providing "knowledge" — possibly the will of Alex — to Genisys, making the AI become a continuation of Alex.

In 2017, when the Genisys Program started becoming whole, Alex's image is used as one of the the holograms to represent Skynet itself in Cyberdyne Systems Headquarters in Skynet's oldest and thus most evolved form. Upon seeing Skynet's hologram in the form of Alex, Kyle recognized him as the thing that had attacked John before he went into the Time Displacement Field. Terminator Genisys

Notes[]

  • Alex has demonstrated more emotions than its other previous counterparts. For example, Skynet disdains John Connor's victory and taunted him. In addition, Skynet refers to its minions as "slaves" and show its superiority over them.
  • Despite the Skynet Core, which is destroyed by the Resistance in Colorado, being referred as a "slave" by Alex, however, Laeta Kalogridis, one of the writers and executive producer of Terminator Genisys, mentioned that Alex actually comes from a different timeline.[1] Though seemly a joke in reference to Matt Smith's portrayal of "The Doctor" from the television series Doctor Who[2], Alex's origin can be verified as it is reflected by John Connor's line to Kyle Reese "Like I always survive, and you always die.", which implied that John might possess knowledge regarding on events from different timelines possibly provided by Alex. This point be further solidified as in the rough plot for the sequel to Terminator Genisys, which was originally going to explore what happened to John after he was transformed into a T-3000.[3] Further explanation was never given, as the planned sequel was cancelled.
  • By far, Alex is the only antagonist Terminator with a significant role to survive the events of its debut movie, as the first T-800, T-1000, T-X, T-RIP, T-3000, and Rev-9 all were terminated at the end of the films they appeared in.

Behind the Scenes[]

  • Matt Smith passed on the opportunity to play Alex three times. His mother finally convinced him to take the role, saying he would be stupid to pass on such a chance.[citation needed]
  • Matt Smith was credited as "Matthew Smith" in the end credits.
  • Prior to the film's release, Matt Smith's role was kept entirely secret other than the fact that he was playing someone with a strong connection to John Connor. In several sources, including Entertainment Weekly, Alex is called "The Secret" and referred as a "close ally" of John Connor. Ironically, this is true in someway as Alex transforms John into his own herald to ensure its own existence.

Appearances[]

Gallery[]

See also[]

References[]

SkyNET
Original timeline - Genisys timeline (Genisys) - Skynet 2.0
Embodiment Meta-Node (T-800) - Sky-1 - Skynet (T-XA) - Alex (T-5000)
Facilities Skynet Central Core - Skynet Hub - Skynet Central Command - Skynet Satellite
Related Topics
Artificial intelligence The Turk - John Henry - ARTIE - MIR - Legion
Developers Miles Dyson - Andy Goode - Barbara Chamberlain - Danny Dyson - Bertram Hollister
Cyberdyne Systems - Cyber Research Systems - Kaliba Group
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