In the context of the stories, the plot device of having various robots looking the same provides a certain continuity for the human characters by exploiting their emotional familiarity with a particular 'human' visage associated with each 'model'. In Terminator Salvation and Dark Fate, the character also appears briefly as an antagonist.

In Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Schwarzenegger's Terminator serves as the main protagonist, while in Terminator Genisys and Terminator: Dark Fate, he serves as a supporting protagonist, and is pitted against other Terminators sent by Skynet and its successor Legion. While the original Terminator was destroyed, other machines with the same appearance are featured in the sequels. The first appearance of the Terminator was as the eponymous antagonist in The Terminator, a 1984 film directed and co-written by James Cameron. The Terminator himself is part of a series of machines created by Skynet for infiltration-based surveillance and assassination missions, and while an android for his appearance, he is usually described as a cyborg consisting of living tissue over a robotic endoskeleton.

The Terminator, also known as a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 or the T-800, is the name of several film characters from the Terminator franchise portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and numerous actor stand-ins digitally overlaid with Schwarzenegger's likeness.

Terminator 3 deleted scene