As previously reported, Shane Black (along with partner/co-writer Fred Dekker) is rebooting the “Predator” series for FOX. Except, it turns out, the movie isn’t a reboot at all: it’s a sequel.
Collider reached out to director Black to find out more, and got the following quote: “As far as Fred and I are concerned anyway, why start over, when you’ve all this rich mythology yet to mine?”
Which is all fine and good, but begs a major question: exactly which “Predator” movie is the Black film going to be a sequel to? Because, in case you weren’t aware, there have been several attempts to rejuvenate the franchise, all with varying results.
With that in mind, here’s every possibility of what the new “Predator” could be a sequel to:
“Predator 2″
1990′s “Predator 2″ starred Danny Glover, who also anchored Shane Black’s “Lethal Weapon” series. It’s the last film set on Earth in the main “Predator” continuity and probably the last movie in the series casual fans truly remember. The movie ends with Glover’s LAPD officer taking down one of the alien hunters and getting ready for their eventual return. Pal Glover up with the only survivor of the original, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and you have a blockbuster return for the series everyone would salivate for.
“Predators”
Technically the next film in the series, the Robert Rodriguez-directed 2010 movie takes place on an alien planet the Predators use as a game preserve and ends with a cliffhanger as Adrien Brody and Alice Braga manage to stop the main Predators hunting them, but with the promise more are on the way.
Would Black want to pick up where Rodriguez left off? Or set the movie back on Earth? Either way, the possibility is open.
“Alien vs. Predator: Requiem”
Branching off from the main series, “Alien vs. Predator” and its sequel mix together the two killer alien franchises in a glorious, goopy whole. The “AvP” movies follow their own continuity, dovetailing more with the “Alien” movies than “Predator” series. What might be most interesting to take from this iteration is that the Predators are the good guys, culling the xenomorph population rather than just straight up hunting humans.
At the end of the second “AvP,” things are tied up pretty neatly, and the movie was also panned by critics, so there’s not a lot to follow up on. Still, Black could use the mythology of Weyland-Yutani, the massive evil company that causes almost every bad event in the “Alien” universe and whose origin bled into the “AvP” series.
“Hawkins: Origins”
Fun fact: Shane Black actually played Hawkins in the original “Predator.” He gets killed by the Predator pretty early on, but there’s still plenty of room for an origin story of the fan favorite okay fine no they’ll never do this.
So which way will Black go? Totally unclear at this point, and there’s even plenty of material he can draw from, from comics, novels and games. As long as someone can outrun a nuclear explosion, though, we should be good to go.
Alex Zalben
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