If the next Predator movie bombs at the box office, then it could very well hammer the final nail into the coffin of the long-running sci-fi series. For now, though, and similar to another Arnold Schwarzenegger classic from the 1980s, it appears as though the studio will just keep reinventing the property until it sticks, which didn’t work out particularly well for any of the various Terminator reboots over the last decade.
Predator 2, Alien vs. Predator and sequel Requiem, Nimrod Antal’s Predators and Shane Black’s The Predator all told brand new stories with a completely different cast and crew, but none of them managed to launch a direct sequel. Predators is regarded by many fans as the best of the bunch, though, and the decision to take the action off-world presented plenty of interesting storytelling possibilities, while the abandoned follow-up idea sounded awesome.
10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg has been tasked by Disney to helm the latest fresh start for the dreadlocked extra-terrestrials, and after the news broke, he admitted that he’d been working on the project for almost four years, even though the last Predator movie was only released two summers ago.
Now, the first plot details have reportedly been revealed, and in a complete change of pace, the latest stab at the mythology is rumored to take place in the past, following a Comanche woman who goes against societal traditions to become a warrior, where she’ll presumably have to fight for her life against at least one Predator that’s visited Earth for a spot of hunting. Furthermore, as AVP Galaxy explains:
[The film] will be set in the past (finally!) where it will focus around Native Americans before the territories were taken by the American settlers, featuring a First Nations cast.
A period-set Predator movie would instantly mark Trachtenberg’s reboot out as a completely unique and fresh spin on the material, one that would lend itself perfectly to the sort of grounded and visceral action that’s been sorely missing from the franchise since the original. Of course, these plot details remain unconfirmed for now, but they certainly paint an intriguing picture of what could be on the horizon and we’re eager to learn more.
