Shane Black wants Schwarzenegger back for The Predator 2

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Shane Black and Fred Dekker's THE PREDATOR is all set to rip and roar its fishnetted-ass into theaters this Friday. The movie sports one hell of an impressive cast including Boyd Holbrook, Sterling K. Brown, Yvonne Strahovski, Jacob Tremblay, Thomas Jane, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, and Jake Busey – but whatever happened to Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Well, Black recently spoke with Digital Spy about not only why Schwarzenegger sat out this new film, but how he still hopes to cast the man, the myth, and the legend in THE PREDATOR 2… if that ever happens. 

Shane Black:

The studio wanted a fresher movie that featured an evolving cast. They didn't want to hinge the movie on the re-emergence of Schwarzenegger. It would probably be more of a matter of his showing up briefly and just participating at the very end, at the climax of the movie.

Understandably – and believe me, 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.

Shane Black on Schwarzenegger's return in THE PREDATOR 2:

I even said to him, 'If you're in this one, we would open it up for the sequel, because now you're back in the franchise'. So you know, if there's another movie, there's no reason why he couldn't be either in it, or the star of it, or whatever someone decides at a future date.

Personally, I'm a little upset by all of this because it feels like a spoiler saying that Arnold won't be in THE PREDATOR. I haven't seen the film yet as I keep missing all the advanced screenings here in Florida, but I was still holding out hope that he would show up in at least a post-credits sequence. But maybe all of this is just a clever ruse? Doubtful. This is the internet. If he was in this new film, we'd know it by now. Oh, well.

Written by Black and Fred Dekker (with whom he wrote THE MONSTER SQUAD), THE PREDATOR has the following synopsis:

From the outer reaches of space to the small-town streets of suburbia, the hunt comes home in Shane Black’s explosive reinvention of the Predator series. Now, the universe’s most lethal hunters are stronger, smarter and deadlier than ever before, having genetically upgraded themselves with DNA from other species. When a young boy accidentally triggers their return to Earth, only a ragtag crew of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher can prevent the end of the human race.

THE PREDATOR is scheduled to be released on September 14th.