Arnold Schwarzenegger may return to the Predator franchise in future, according to director Dan Trachtenberg.
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The actor starred in the original 1987 film as Major Alan ‘Dutch’ Schaefer, who encounters the titular alien with his paramilitary team in a Central American rainforest during a rescue mission.
The franchise has expanded to nine films, including two Alien franchise crossovers and the upcoming Badlands, but Schwarzenegger hasn’t made any further appearances.
However, Trachtenberg suggested during the Badlands panel at Comic-Con on Friday (July 25) he’s planning to “cook up stuff for that guy” after recently meeting him for breakfast.
In addition, he revealed that Schwarzenegger gave his permission for his likeness to be used in an epilogue scene at the conclusion of Predator: Killer of Killers. It depicts predator warriors carrying coffins of several humans, including Dutch, Lt Mike Harrigan, who was played by Danny Glover in 1990’s Predator 2 and Amber Midthunder’s Naru from 2022’s Prey.
Predator: Badlands will arrive in cinemas on November 7. It turns the traditional Predator movie set-up on its head – a Predator (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is the protagonist, with A Complete Unknown’s Elle Fanning starring as some kind of android.
According to the official description, Predator: Badlands is “set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.”
That “ultimate adversary” appears to be an enormous creature, glimpsed in the trailer galloping through the jungle before coming face-to-face with the young Predator. At one point, Fanning’s Thia says, “You’re hunting something that can’t be killed”, hinting at how Badlands switches up the human-vs-Predator scenario we’ve seen so many times before.
Schwarzenegger has been in the headlines in recent months after his son Patrick played Saxon Ratliff on the most recent season of The White Lotus.
Last month, he hit back at claims that his son is a ‘nepo baby’, insisting that he has never been asked for help with his acting career.
In a discussion between Patrick and Arnold Schwarzenegger for Variety, the younger actor said he felt continuing the family business was a natural thing. “We talked about this idea of nepotism,” he said, “but when you grow up and your parents do a specific job, it makes sense that you go and work in that world”.
Arnold replied: “You have never asked me to call a studio or to call an agent. You never asked me for advice when it comes to acting itself. You’re a rare breed, and I’m very, very proud of you”.
