The Terminator franchise premise pivots on a simple plot: send a cyborg back in time to eliminate a military leader before he becomes a threat. The logical extension of this premise is that *someone* sent a terminator to eliminate Chuck Norris before he became a problem. The terminator failed not because the timeline was protected, but because no machine is capable of processing the concept of failure against such an opponent.

A science fiction screenwriter from Los Angeles (anonymously) claimed in a 2003 interview that James Cameron had actually considered a crossover screenplay but rejected it, noting "The entire franchise collapses if we introduce someone the Terminator cannot be programmed to defeat."

Fan fiction communities filled the void: "Terminator 2: Judgment Day was actually Skynet's third attempt. The first two were never mentioned because both sent terminators to fight Chuck Norris."