Predator: Killer of Killers Director on How Arnold Schwarzenegger Could Return

Predator: Killer of Killers, the latest entry in the Predator franchise, has potentially set up Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s return to the franchise as Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer. Notably, Schwarzenegger played the character in the 1987 feature Predator and has declined offers to reprise the role in several entries in the franchise. However, he did voice the character in the 2020 multiplayer video game Predator: Hunting Grounds.

Dan Trachtenberg talks Arnold Schwarzenegger’s return after Predator: Killer of Killers

Dan Trachtenberg, who directed Predator: Killer of Killers, didn’t rule out the prospects of Schwarzenegger’s return as Dutch during an interview with Polygon and underscored how his animated movie had potentially done the groundwork for it.

In Killer of Killers, a Viking warrior, a samurai heir turned shinobi, and a U.S. pilot from the World War II era survive separate encounters with Predators. They subsequently find themselves captive and placed into cryogenic sleep by other members of the Predator race. The three survivors are subsequently transported to an arena-like area where they come face to face with a colossal Predator.

Toward the end of the movie, it is revealed that Naru, the protagonist of 2022’s Prey, has also been placed in suspended animation. Given that Dutch is one of the rare few individuals who has survived an encounter with a Predator, the events depicted in Killer of Killers potentially set up his reappearance in the franchise.

Trachtenberg seemed to agree. “So the movie was made under the code name Warehouse, as that end moment was in the original idea pitch to the studio, and it felt like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark,” he told the outlet mentioned above. “Certainly Arnold, like many others, was a survivor of his story, and one could easily imagine him up there in cryo, along with any other Earth champion or champion from other planets,” Trachtenberg added.

Schwarzenegger, 77, remains very much active as an actor and action star. He has several movies in the pipeline, along with Season 2 of his Netflix action comedy, FUBAR, which comes out on June 12, 2025. So, he can return as an older version of Dutch in a live-action project. Alternatively, he can voice the character in an animated production like Killer of Killers.

Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on SuperHeroHype.

Source: Comingsoon.net