Terminator is an American science fiction franchise that comprises five films, a television show, novels, comic books, video games, and tie‑in merchandise. Primarily created by James Cameron, the franchise mainly centers around the battles between Skynet's artificially intelligent machine network and John Connor's Resistance forces and the rest of the human race. The titular "Terminator" refers to the various infiltration-combat autonomous robots, notably the Model 101 T-800 unit, portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger, manufactured by Skynet in its war against humanity. The original film was written by James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd, with additional uncredited input from William Wisher, and directed by the former, who returned with the same duties for the first sequel, Terminator 2: Judgmen