Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Predator Return: 3 Stories the Franchise Needs to Tell

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Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning to the Predator series, which is exciting news for fans. While technically he’s already back – his character, Dutch, from the original Predator (1987), was shown as a cryogenically frozen prisoner of the Predators in the recent film Predator: Killer of Killers. He appeared alongside Danny Glover’s character from Predator 2 and Amber Midthunder’s Naru from Prey.

Dan Trachtenberg, the director shaping the future of the Predator series, is planning a significant event that goes beyond simply revisiting the Alien vs. Predator concept. As the franchise returns to its original characters, it’s important to establish some missing pieces of the story. Specifically, three crucial details about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Dutch, need to be explained.

3) What Happened After Predator?

The 1987 film Predator follows Dutch Schaefer and his elite military team as they are hunted by a technologically advanced alien creature—a Yautja—during a secret CIA operation. Dutch is the only survivor, ultimately defeating the alien. The ending shows Dutch escaping in a helicopter, and Predator 2 reveals he reported the encounter to the US government, leading to a full-scale, secret investigation of the Yautja species.

In the films Prey and Killer of Killers, director Trachtenberg introduced a renegade Yautja clan called the Warlord’s Clan. This clan revisits planets where Yautja hunters have fallen, capturing the warriors who defeated them. They freeze these captured warriors and awaken them for special competitions or events. If Dutch, from Predator, is now a prisoner of this clan and appears to be the same age, we need to understand how they captured him. Considering he likely suffered trauma and paranoia after surviving his previous hunt and losing his team, it’s important to know how difficult – or easy – it was for the Yautja to recapture him.

2) How Long Has Dutch Been Frozen (and Has He Ever Been Thawed Before)?

I just finished watching Predator: Killer of Killers, and something really interesting happened that got me thinking. When Ursa, the Viking warrior, sacrificed herself to help Kenji and Torres escape, the Predators didn’t actually kill her! They put her back into cryo-sleep, meaning they can wake her up later. That’s huge! It seems like the Warlord Clan doesn’t just eliminate captured warriors; they’re collecting them, like trophies. It definitely changes how you look at their motivations!

Ursa, originating from the year 841, is the oldest warrior currently known to be held by the Grendel King. Considering she’s imprisoned alongside Dutch and Harrington – who come from the 1980s and 1990s, respectively – it’s evident the Yautja have been conducting this operation for a very long time. We don’t yet know when the final battle of Killer of Killers will occur, but given Dutch has been held for decades, it’s possible he was also previously revived for a tournament or hunt of some kind.

The recent film featured the Grendel King forcing warriors from different eras to battle each other. A similar concept – pairing Dutch with other survivors like Harrington or Naru in a tournament – would be very popular with fans, especially if presented with the dynamic animation style of Killer of Killers. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Glover could perfectly deliver the characters’ performances through voice acting.

1) Where Is This All Headed?

The Predator series is gaining popularity again thanks to the recent film by Trachtenberg, but it’s unclear where the franchise is going next. This is a key question that needs a definitive answer soon.

The idea of an Aliens vs. Predator movie is still exciting, and the current storyline offers a lot of possibilities. We could see different groups of Predators fighting each other, survivors from past films, a swarm of Xenomorphs, and the powerful Weyland-Yutani corporation all clashing on an alien planet. A film like that could be a huge blockbuster, comparable to Marvel or DC movies, but it’s not the only way to go with the franchise.

With Prey, the Predator series has found a fresh direction. The film uniquely combines several standalone hunting stories with a larger crossover event, bringing together characters from different Predator movies in an all-out battle. This approach—using an animated anthology to build to a crossover—could be used again and again, potentially bringing back familiar actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, Adrian Brody, and Boyd Holbrook through voice work.

The Predator series is now well-established enough to support its own standalone stories. A film focusing on a large-scale hunt, or a breakout of cryogenically frozen prisoners, would be a natural fit for the franchise. While bringing back actors like Schwarzenegger and Glover and making them look younger would be costly due to the visual effects required, if director Trachtenberg could achieve it, it could be a huge box office success. Terminator has already successfully used face-swapping and de-aging technology on a younger Schwarzenegger for years, and Alien even considered de-aging Sigourney Weaver for a planned, but ultimately cancelled, fifth film. The technology exists to make it happen.

We’re curious – how would you like to see Arnold Schwarzenegger back in a future Predator movie? Share your thoughts in the comments or discuss it with other fans on the ComicBook Forum!

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2025-12-28 00:13