Plenty of beloved action franchises have announced new projects in recent years, but arguably one of the most exciting of the bunch is The Predator. Bringing Shane Black back into the fold after a long absence, the new film will aim to revitalize the intergalactic hunters and introduce their bloody sport to a new generation. Plot details have been hard to come by, but The Predator actor Thomas Jane recently opened up and explained that it will (at least partially) center on a group of psychologically-scarred war veterans fighting for survival against the Predators. The 1922 star said:
The part that I know about is the stuff that we did, and we play these veterans from like Afghanistan or whatever, the Iraq War. Whatever, you know? But we're all fucking crazy, right? So we go to the VA hospital to get our meds, and we're all shellshocked, PTSD soldiers. We're at the VA hospital and we all, in like group therapy, and of course, somebody flips out. This is backstory, I don't think we really see this, but somebody flips out and we all get arrested and thrown onto the bus to go down to the hospital, right? Then they throw this other guy on the bus, too, and he's a guy that they're actually marked to kill him. Because he's seen the UFO. He's seen The Predator ships come down. So they lock him up and they throw him in with us lunatics, and they're gonna take [the] bus and drive us down into a ditch and shoot us all, just to get rid of this one guy. But, of course, we take the bus over and we're all 'fuck that, man. Let's go kill these fucking Predators ourselves.' We're just crazy enough to believe that this guy really did see a UFO.
The Predator franchise has always relied on a conflict between one or more human badasses against the titular hunter. However, it sounds like Shane Black's new film will sidestep much of the confusion and speculation that most Predator movie characters go through and get right to the point. These war veterans are ready and willing to accept that the aliens exist, and they have the skills to fight back when their lives are in danger. The Predators like to keep a low profile when they come to Earth, so making the film center on these soldiers fighting to stay alive amid an alien cover-up makes quite a bit of sense.
The reference to soldiers in the back of a bus also seems to provide some context for a photo posted by director Shane Black earlier this year in which we see several of the film's stars (including Thomas Jane) in the back of a beat-up bus. Check it out below.
With that said, Thomas Jane made sure to note in his guest spot on Shadow Nation that this is just the part that he filmed. There might be another layer to The Predator's story that we're not entirely aware of (which could explain how a young actor like Ty Simpkins can get involved in the action) so we're going to have to wait until we see footage from the film to know for sure. Shane Black has already said that the film will solidify the storylines of the series instead of providing a full-blown reboot, so all eyes are on this entry to bring the whole thing full circle.
The Predator is currently gearing up for an August 3, 2018 release. Until then, make sure to take a look at CinemaBlend's 2017 movie premiere guide, as well as our 2018 movie premiere guide!
