Nearly four decades after he led a rescue team into a Central American jungle and came face to face with an alien hunter, the Austrian Oak says he is in talks to play Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer again in a new Predator film.
What Schwarzenegger said
The first hint came in March at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio. Talking about director Dan Trachtenberg, who brought the franchise back to life, Schwarzenegger told the crowd: “Now he wants me to be in the next Predator. We’ve talked about it.”
He returned to the subject this week on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, saying the studio had come back to him about the role. He has not yet seen a finished script, and he made it clear that nothing moves until the writing is right. “What’s not on the page is not on the stage,” he said.
Where Dutch was last seen
Predator opened in 1987, directed by John McTiernan, and turned Schwarzenegger’s line “Get to the chopper!” into one of the most quoted moments in action cinema. Dutch was the only member of his elite team to walk out of the jungle alive.
Fans got a surprise glimpse of the character in the animated Predator: Killer of Killers in 2025, where Dutch appeared briefly in a suspended animation chamber. Trachtenberg also made Prey (2022) and Predator: Badlands (2025), which put the series back in favour with critics and audiences.
Reports say Trachtenberg has other films lined up, so it is not yet clear who would direct Dutch’s comeback.
Two more classics in the works
The jungle is not the only place Schwarzenegger could return to. He says 20th Century Studios has handed him a script for a sequel to Commando (1985), the film where he played retired special forces colonel John Matrix. That script is also being polished before anything is shot.
Then there is King Conan, a follow-up to Conan the Barbarian (1982). Christopher McQuarrie, the director behind several Mission: Impossible films, is attached to write and direct, and filming is aimed at 2027. “King Conan is a Conan who is my age and has been king for 40 years,” Schwarzenegger said.
What happens next
For now, all three projects are in development. No release dates have been announced, no director has been named for the Predator return and no script is final. Schwarzenegger says he is waiting for the scripts to be perfected, and then the cameras can roll.
Featured image: photo of Arnold Schwarzenegger at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 by Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0. Adapted by SAFFARAZZI (background extended, text added) and shared under the same licence.
Enjoyed this story? We need your help.
Add Saffarazzi as a preferred source. You’ll see more of our stories on Google, and you’ll help us grow.
