Screenwriter Alex Litvak is primarily known for writing (with Michael Finch) the 2010 PREDATOR sequel PREDATORS (which you can watch HERE)), but before earning his first screenwriting credit on that film he spent some time working behind the scenes at various studios, including a stint at 20th Century Fox in the '90s. Speaking with the folks at AVPGalaxy, Litvak revealed that he had pitched a different PREDATOR sequel idea while he was working at Fox. And that one, if it had gotten the greenlight, would have brought Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the role of Dutch.
When Litvak was at Fox, ALIEN: RESURRECTION was in the works but there was nothing going on with the PREDATOR franchise. The studio wasn't keen on making another PREDATOR sequel without Schwarzenegger, feeling that PREDATOR 2 had been a disappointment, and even though they had an ALIEN VS. PREDATOR script written by Peter Briggs sitting on the shelf, they weren't interested in moving forward with that because they wanted to see how RESURRECTION did first. (And when RESURRECTION was released and poorly received, that killed the idea of ALIEN VS. PREDATOR for several years.)
In 1996, Robert Rodriguez had written a script called PREDATORS that featured Dutch in the lead role – and Litvak and Finch would end up giving that script a major overhaul for the 2010 film, which was produced by Rodriguez and didn't feature Schwarzenegger at all. The early version of PREDATORS didn't happen in the '90s because Fox couldn't get Schwarzenegger to agree to reprise the role of Dutch. But that didn't stop Litvak from crafting an alternative pitch for a sequel starring Schwarzenegger as Dutch.
Here's how Litvak described the pitch on the AVPGalaxy podcast:
What happened to Dutch? The idea was, Dutch has been mothballed, because the whole thing has been classified, it never happened, so he has been drummed out of the military and lives a life in exile, so to speak. Either does menial jobs or he's in prison on a trumped up charge, whatever that is. So another Predator ship crashlands somewhere, and instead of going to the jungle it was anything from it crashlands in the water so it's more of an ocean setting, or it crashlands somewhere in the mountains, so we're now in the mountains. It's some sort of a hard-to-access location.
So now the powers that be come to him saying, 'Dutch, we need you because another Predator ship has appeared, and think of all the tech we can access, think of all the scientific leaps we can make. Come with us because you're the only one who faced this creature and lived.' So reluctantly he says yes, so now there's a new group, it's this new elite group of commandos, and now he's older, they're younger, he's been out of circulation, they're cutting edge. So he's sort of the odd man out. He's not in command, he's more in advisor capacity like Ripley in ALIENS. So they all go there, they get to the ship, they blow the hatch, and there's a whole f*cking team of Predators just waiting there for them. You realize the whole thing has been a trap to get Dutch. Dutch is the prized prey, and the reason they showed up again is they're hunting him.
So now it's an EXECUTIVE DECISION type fiasco where the team is largely massacred. The few survivors and Dutch are now pitted against the Predators who have come specifically after him to hunt him."
Litvak brought that idea to his bosses at Fox, he talked to PREDATOR franchise producer John Davis's company about it, he had writers lined up to take the job if the project moved forward… But once again, Fox said that Schwarzenegger wasn't available for another PREDATOR movie, and since they had the outlook that "PREDATOR 2 didn't work, ALIEN: RESURRECTION did not work", there just wasn't a lot of interest in continuing either series at that time.
After hearing that pitch, I'm bummed that it didn't happen. I'm totally fine with PREDATOR movies that don't involve Dutch, but if the character were to come back that idea sounds like a fun way to do it.
Litvak and Finch also had a cool idea for a PREDATORS sequel that didn't happen. You can read about that unmade PREDATOR movie in THIS ARTICLE.