The TERMINATOR saga is one full of so many time-traveling twists and changes, it’s hard to keep track of what has happened at any point past writer/director James Cameron’s first two films, THE TERMINATOR and TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. At least, that was the case before Cameron came back to help break the story for the latest film in the line, TERMINATOR: DARK FATE.

As the famed creator of the series returned to help actively develop the story of the sixth sequel in the franchise, James Cameron’s approach must have been inspired by Occam’s razor. In this case, the simplest way to move forward with TERMINATOR: DARK FATE was to cut away all of the sequels that took place after TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY.

Which means that all of the complicated history between Judgment Day being inevitable in TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES and John Connor being converted into a Terminator in TERMINATOR GENISYS has been wiped off the slate. This makes things all the more interesting, as TERMINATOR: DARK FATE might see the sort of happy ending from TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY — where Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and her son, John (Edward Furlong), get to set their own fate — erased for the good of the saga.

Considering that the key message of “There is no fate but what we make for ourselves” was James Cameron’s overarching point in his TERMINATOR movies, a point so willfully discarded in all of the sequels he disapproved of, there must be a really good reason for putting Judgment Day back on the table.

TERMINATOR: DARK FATE not only sees Cameron’s return to the world of TERMINATOR storytelling, but also Linda Hamilton’s first time playing the iconic Sarah Connor on screen since TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY. This time, Sarah be joined by Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a cybernetically enhanced human sent back from the future to protect a young woman (Natalia Reyes) from a brand-new model of Terminator (Gabriel Luna).

Why this young woman is important and what the TERMINATOR franchise has in store for the future remains to be seen. But it won’t be much longer until the history of Sarah Connor, John Connor and the fate of humanity are re-written yet again, partially thanks to the man who created it all.

If you’re like us and all of this TERMINATOR: DARK FATE talk has you anxious to see the latest entry in the saga, you can now buy tickets through the AMC website to see the film when it opens on November 1.