The Predator’s original ending was much different than the one we got

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

**SPOILER ALERT FOR THE PREDATOR**

Anyone who scrolled past the above alert has probably gone out and seen THE PREDATOR (and if you haven’t, then, whatever), and upon leaving you could tell this movie was all about trying to set up the future of the franchise with some big plans. This meant expanding on the intergalactic element with an ending that leaves things open for some pretty wild, action-packed sequels. This ending is interesting, if not a bit head-scratching, and though it leaves the door wide open the original ending is just as intriguing, and far more badass.

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Let’s recall the theatrical ending first. After Boyd Holbrook, Jacob Tremblay and Olivia Munn defeat the gargantuan Super Predator the government begins to examine the mysterious chest the small Predator brought to earth. Holbrook is brought in to a military facility (and where his young son is a full-time employee?) to get a look, and what pops out from the chest is an Iron Man-esque suit of armor meant for fighting off other invading Predators. Clearly, other Predators are going to invade like the Chitauri in THE AVENGERS, and this is a sign the future movies will find more humans and more Predators clashing on some massive, intergalactic level.

For fans of the suspenseful original this may have been a scoffable moment, but if the aim is to take the franchise into the future then I guess this is one way to do it. However, Birth. Movies. Death. is reporting that the original ending would’ve done something similar, but in a more low-key, and far more amazing way that would’ve recalled back one of the original’s stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The original script reportedly found Holbrook, Munn and Tremblay having just defeated the Predator when, all of a sudden, a chopper lands near them. The man who comes out is none other than Schwarzenegger’s Dutch Schaeffer, his face “haunted; etched by pain.” He then tells the trio to come with him, leaving Rory (Tremblay) to ask, “me too?”, with Dutch replying, “Especially you.”

See, doesn’t that sound way cooler AND leave stuff open?

The problem was that Schwarzenegger wasn’t interested in the project or the small part he was given. He talked to Yahoo! last year and said he wasn’t a fan of the script, and wouldn’t want to appear in the movie that way it had been written at that time.

“They asked me, and I read it, and I didn’t like it — whatever they offered. So I’m not going to do that, no. Except if there’s a chance that they rewrite it, or make it a more significant role. But the way it is now, no, I won’t do that.”

Director Shane Black recently opened up about this, saying he understood why the megastar wouldn’t want to merely come back for a cameo, even if it meant bringing back for a bigger part in the future.

"I completely get it – he said, 'Look, that's kind of a small part, and I don't really think I want to do that. I'm off to do Terminator with Jim Cameron, basically. Or for Jim Cameron.’ So I totally got it, you know? If I was Schwarzenegger, I'd want to be one of the stars of a film, or nothing."

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The theatrical ending clearly cobbled together as a way of setting up some big, future plans, but it also hints that anyone hoping the sequels would harken back to the tension of the original may have to keep dreaming. Where they plan to go remains to be seen, but my guess is wherever it is it will be quite expensive to get there. The original ending still sets up some sort of plan to get a crew together for the sake of fighting more Predators, like some R-rated Avengers, which sounds way more badass and appealing. Perhaps they can still do that by giving Arnie a bigger part, which I'm down for. Maybe the suit can be destroyed, with Schwarzenegger saying, "I don't need no armor." And the crowd goes wild. 

THE PREDATOR is in theaters now.