WARNING: Major spoilers for The Predator throughout.

The Predator's reshoots completely changed the movie, with Fox totally rewriting Shane Black's original plan for the film. Characters were removed entirely, others had their personalities and deaths completely altered, multiple Predator variants and hybrids were cut, and a whole new ending was introduced. Here, we're going to try and break down how such a mess came to be.

Even before reshoots, The Predator's journey to the screen was already a strange one; its release date slowly shuffled around from an early 2018 release to its current September 2018 date and a trailer not releasing until May. There were rumblings that something wasn't right - a leaked plot synopsis caused a lot of fan backlash - and then around when the film had originally been set to release, it was reported there would be reshoots over a two-and-a-half week stretch from March 12th to March 29th. The cast and crew were rather open about this, stating that it involved changes to the third act, but then, in July, there was a second, two-day bout of reshoots to further tighten up the film.

Related: All 6 Predator Movies Ranked (Including The Predator)

Reshoots aren't an inherently bad thing - they come from a film not being complete in the edit - and it must be said that The Predator's weren't any longer than the likes of Thor: Ragnarok. However, they came accompanied by rumors the studio and director had clashed over the story and tone, withmajor aspects of the film had been removed entirely. It slowly emerged that this wasn't a case of fixing up the movie, but about retroactively changing it.

Again, this approach needn't be a death sentence - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had third-act changing reshoots and is regarded by many as the peak of Disney Star Wars - but with The Predator, it most certainly was. The film is hastily edited and frenetically paced in a bid to hide the illogicies created by the new footage, but all that does is bury any hope of a worthy sequel. The resulting film is plainly a muddle, although the impact of the behind-the-scenes meddling is perhaps not as utterly damaging as with Fantastic Four or Justice League, which in turn means there are no obvious reshoot hallmarks akin to Henry Cavill's mustache.

However, using early plot leaks, reports on what was cut and changed, and footage from the trailers not in the film, we can get a good idea of what Shane Black's The Predator was going to be - and what Fox turned it into.

A Whole Sequence With Good Guy Predators Was Cut

Deleted Scene From The Predator

The earliest set photos for The Predator showed the cast of loonies on an APC tank, alongside a pair of classic, good guy Predators in camo armor. What's so striking about this now is that this sequence absolutely does not fit into the movie playing in theaters. Some footage did appear in the first two trailers, but even that doesn't really line up with what we've got.

Related: The Problem With The Predator's Trailers

A Reddit post from 2017, seemingly based on the leaked script, may provide some clarification. A lot of the included plot details are accurate to the finished movie from a time before such details were public knowledge, making it verifiable and the deviations most likely a product of subsequent changes. It is from the script, so not everything will have been shot, but it gives a sense of the ideas Black and co-screenwriter Fred Dekker were playing with. In reference to these scenes, it says that there are two defector Predators being held in Area 51 who team up with the loonies in a bid to stop the Ultimate Predator. The leak places the scene at the start of the third act, after the Predators' true extinction plot but before the loonies head to the Predator ship (known as "the Ark").

These set photos got a mixed fan reaction and, given no allusion to any other good Predators on Earth remain, was evidently something the studio or director wanted out of The Predator entirely. Speaking to Yahoo, Black talked about how it was simple one antagonistic thread too many: in the finished version, the single classic Predator is killed the moment the Ultimate Predator makes its appearance, which may be an attempt to keep the focus on one alien antagonist. Whatever the motivation, this reveals a lot about the connective tissue of the reshoots: there's an entire sequence missing, meaning a lot of surrounding was footage cut and replaced.

Also of note, these photos also show what appears to be Keegan Michael-Key in scarred makeup, suggesting that he was originally going to be killed in this scene, much earlier than in the finished film.

Another Sequence With Predator Hybrids Was Also Cut

The Predator Blades

As released, The Predator features three different alien creatures: the renegade Predator (aka the original creature), the Ultimate Predator, and his Hell-Hounds. Earlier versions of the story, however, had many, many more.

Related: The Predator Is In The Original Canon - Here's How

From that previous script leak, there was apparently going to be a sequence when the characters closed in on The Ark where the Upgrade version would unleash a cacophony of various Predator hybrids: previous attempts at evolution that went wrong, including Predators with two, three and four limbs, tentacles and other twists on the mandibled monster. They were eventually defeated by the heroes taking advantage of fortuitous self-destruct collars.

Our set visit teased and other reports backed up these hybrids being in one earlier cut of the film (meaning they made it past the script phase), but as with the hero Predators, any trace of them is removed in the finished movie. From the leak, it would seem this sequence came after the APC chase, ending with the characters flying away in the Predator ship (instead of it being blown up). This was then followed by the fight on and subsequent crash of the Ultimate Predator's craft, suggesting that this was replaced by the more conventional Ultimate Predator hunt in the woods.

Connections To Earlier Predator Films Were Added

Olivia Munn and Masks in The Predator

One thing that The Predator does in spades are references to previous movies. The events of 1987 (Predator) and 1997 (Predator 2) are mentioned, Olivia Munn's Casey Bracket is shown still footage from both original movies, the spears from both Predator 2 and Alien vs. Predator appear, and Jake Busey plays the son of Predator 2's Keyes (Black has said Predators is set afterwards, excusing its absence). While some of these were evidently part of the film from the start - Busey was cast in March 2017 - reports suggest at least some were late changes.

Related: How AvP Saved Predator (But Possibly Killed Alien)

According to reports in July 2018, the AvP spear and archive footage were both added by the reshoots to provide some obvious fan bait to the Predator history lesson. It's also possible that some of the other tongue-in-cheek gags are reshoots: the "get to the choppers" line in the earlier leaks was in reference to an actual helicopter, while the bikes definitely look like CGI additions.

Page 2: How Reshoots Changed The Predator's Characters (And Mental Illness Parallels)

 

The Predator Shane Black Photo Cast

Most Character's Personalities Changed (Possibly To Avoid Mental Illness Parallels)

Shane Black movies are typically marked out for their distinct characters, and The Predator is no different - for the most part. Some relationships and arcs feel undercooked, and going back through what was reported when actors were cast, you can see aspects that were either cut, reordered or reshot.

When Trevante Rhodes was cast as Nebraska, he was said to be the best friend of Boyd Holbrook's McKenna, yet in the released film, he's the de facto leading of The Looneys, only meeting Quinn after his psyche evaluation. This could be misreporting - the pair do form a strong friendship - but a reunion arc would also fit what's presented. Further, the first trailer seemed to suggest Nebraska was originally on McKenna's mission that opens the film.

There's more. Olivia Munn's Casey was allegedly a science teacher, providing a further essential piece of background to her DNA expertise and how the government would know of her (rather than a childhood letter). Jacob Tremblay's Rory was, for the longest time, said to use his autism to learn the Predator language (and allegedly control the Ultimate Predator's ship). In the movie he does learn how to communicate with Predators, but it's entirely through their technology; given the Ultimate Predator later uses a translator to speak to the humans, it would make sense as a parallel. Finally, Augusto Aguilera's casting report gave a more specific backstory for Nettles, with a helicopter crash leaving him with a brain injury (explaining his personality and how he can fly a chopper).

Read More: The New Predator Movie's Cast & Character Guide

It's also possible that the relationship between Thomas Jane's Baxley and Keegan Michael-Key's Coyle was repurposed. From our set visit, we know the flip reveal that the pair served together as marines was part of the original plan, but the presentation of it is oddly weighted: Jane's Tourettes outbursts cease, while as already said Key was likely going to die during the APC sequence, which indicates an attempt to give two abrasive figures a softer side.

What's striking is that most of these adjustments have the effect of downplaying the film's exploration of mental illness. Indeed, for all the talk of Aspergers, Tremblay rarely displays any autistic hallmarks, and any attempts to draw parallels between him, The Looneys and the Predator are incredibly fleeting. Given the minefield of making any such parallels, this is hardly surprising.

Edward James Olmos' Was Cut From The Predator Entirely

Edward James Olmos Cast in Mayans MC

In March 2017, The Predator's already stacked cast gained another sci-fi alum: Edward James Olmos. The star of Battlestar Galactica and Blade Runner, Olmos was reported to be playing the boss of Sterling K. Brown's Traeger, with it since confirmed by Black he was linked to the two renegade Predators in Area 51.

However, in August 2018, just a month before release, Olmos revealed that his role had been cut from The Predator entirely. The stated reason was runtime: "It was too long so my character, they had to take me out. They were like half an hour, 3/4 of an hour too long." That length concern can definitely be felt in the film, which comes in at a neat 1 hour 48 minutes but is shaved within an inch of its life. In regards to the reshoots, this left a minor narrative hole in the command of the human villains, which per Black in the interview with Yahoo was shouldered more by Brown (indicating connective pick-ups).

Olivia Munn's Introduction Was Cut (But For A Different Reason)

Not exactly a reshoot, but still a change is Olivia Munn's introduction. This scene at the dog park would have seen her hit on by a stranger and rebuffing his advances before being approached by the military. However, the actor playing the pervert stranger was Steven Wilder Striegel, a convicted sex offender. Striegel was cast in the film off the back of his friendship with Black, who neglected to tell Munn or any of the crew his past. When Munn found out in August 2018, she immediately told the rest of the cast and Fox, who cut the scene. This controversy has exploded, with Munn's co-stars initially refusing to do press with her and not commenting on the scandal in general, but they've since all backed her and Black has apologized for including Striegel.

Read More: Where Olivia Munn’s Cut Predator Scene Would’ve Been

The cut scene does leave a gap in the movie. As it stands, Casey is thrown straight into the narrative without any introduction, something that this encounter would have evidently have provided. Of course, removing it was undoubtably the right decision (and would have likely been reshot were it not so late in the day).

Page 3: How The Predator's Third Act & Ending Changed

The Predator's Third Act Was Changed (A Lot)

Although as has already been established the changes to The Predator are many, those involved haven't shied away from discussing them, albeit in a manner to play it down. In multiple interviews, Shane Black confirmed that vast portions of the third act were being reshot, clarifying it was mainly to switch the action from day to night. As seen in the previous set photos and reaffirmed by the cast, a lot of the film's action was going to take place in the cold light of day, something that doesn't do creatures designed to be seen invisible and in shadows any favors. This meant most of the scenes were changed and, in an unexpected story impact, the majority of the film seems to take place over one night (this confusion can be seen when Traeger calls back to Rory wearing the Predator's mask on Halloween night, despite it still being October 31).

However, from those set photos we know that a lot of elements were also removed, meaning there was a greater restructuring was going on. Two sequences - the good guy Predators and Predator hybrids - were dropped entirely, and there's evidence that the Ultimate Predator's hunt was introduced as or graduated to become their replacement: character deaths happened at different points, it's clearly on one repurposed set, the CGI is weaker, it's announced suddenly and explicitly, then beelines into a new, different sequence (the Ultimate Predator's ship) without any bearing on the wider plot.

This streamlines the narrative most definitely (again, it provides a single antagonist) and connects the Ark sequence to the Ultimate Predator's ship without any need for travel. But, knowing what was there before, it means a lot of movie was actually changed (anything from the football field fight will have likely been adjusted). For evidence, there's a behind-the-scenes shot of Olivia Munn on the Ark interior set, somewhere Casey never appears on, pointing towards cuts around the hybrid point.

It also seems likely there were changes made to the final battle too. Several beats reported via story leaks - such as the forcefield kills - making it somewhat consistent. However, rumors also suggested Rory was originally going to pilot the Ultimate Predator's ship (part of his ability to communicate with the aliens) and unsubstatiated rumblings even had him killing the creature. There's also evidently some redits in the sequence considering how in the finished cut Casey is somehow able to travel miles from takeoff to landing in a matter of minutes. That said, there's little information on what any tweaks might have been.

The Predator's Many Character Deaths Changed Too

Sterling K Brown As Traeger in The Predator

Those third act and character changes come together in how the various heroes are killed. It was reported in July that the reshoots changed many of the key character deaths, and that would seem evident from how swiftly all but three of The Looneys are offed in the space of a couple of minutes.

Related: The Predator Is The First Movie To Actually Call The Monster "The Predator"

As established, it's likely all of this set piece was from reshoots, so this isn't too surprising, although some are particularly obvious. Keegan Michael-Key's death was, from set photos, earlier, which means both his and Thomas Jane's showdown was never intended (again, their relationship also seems to be changed). Sterling K. Brown's Traeger's sudden shoulder canon acquisition and sudden fatal mishandling is likewise so out of the blue it can't be ignored.

It would seem that the team's was originally picked off more gradually across the second and third acts until only McKenna, Rory, Casey, Nebraska and Nettles were alive for the final sequence on the ship and the marshland. The changes made mean there's more time getting to know the various characters, but then means the deaths have to come at a much quicker pace.

What About Arnold Schwarzenegger's Cameo?

Ultimate Predator and Arnold Schwarzenegger

One thing that gets brought up with every new Predator movie is the question of if Arnold Schwarzenegger will return. The original movie was his star vehicle, and he's been approached to return for every movie since. For The Predator, he turned down what was essentially a cameo, saying he'd only return if he had a full role.

The script leak possibly reveals what that cameo was: after defeating the Ultimate Predator, Quinn, Casey and Rory were to approach a helicopter piloted by Dutch, who recruits them for an upcoming war with the Predators and takes them off for further battle. This ending is somewhat similar to the proposed cameo for Predators - at the end, after Adrian Brody's defeated the Super Predator, a Predator ship would have landed and collection of aliens come out, led by Dutch in Predator armor, likewise teasing further adventures. That makes this leak both believable - it's clearly a direction Fox wants to take the franchise in - and suspect by how similar it is.

Read More: Arnold Schwarzenegger Almost Returned To Predator 4 Times

Whether this is indeed what Fox and Black had in mind, no scene will have been shot as Schwarzenegger turned it down. This leaves the movie without a know original final stinger, and the questions turn to the Predator Killer.

The Predator Killer Was Surely A Reshoot

Boyd Holbrook in The Predator

While The Predator always sounds to have been a race to find something to help humanity fight against the invading aliens, it may not have always been the Predator Killer. That human armor doesn't appear to have been in any of the leaked scripts or previous versions of the film, and even though standard blockbuster secrecy means there's been little discussion of the ending by those involved, that entire sequence and tease reeks of being a reshoot.

Chiefly, there's a shot from the second trailer where Quinn, kneeling alongside Rory and Casey, looks up at the sky and says "Come get us, motherf*cker". Given the location and characters, this has to be after the Ultimate Predator's death, making this the originally planned ending; essentially the Arnie cameo minus Arnie.

In contrast, the Predator Killer is a disconnected addendum to the story with no real bearing on the events that only features two of the main cast in totally different clothes to earlier, while the CGI of the Predator Killer itself is barely convincing. Above all, it's an incredibly Marvel move: the gauntlet itself operates just like Tony Stark's nanotech armor from Avengers: Infinity War, and the sequel tease is just too overt to not be studio notes. We'll hopefully get some confirmation of this once the cast begin discussing spoilers.

Page 4: Were The Predator's Reshoots Worth It?

Jacob Tremblay in The Predator

Other Scenes That Were Likely Cut From The Predator

From trailers and general discussions, there's a collection of scenes that were cut outright, rather than being reshot or adjusted. This includes McKenna being captured in Mexico (with Nebraska), Rory smashing the Predator device into his building blocks (although the connection to the original Predator ship seems to be tricksy trailer editing), as well as a lot of vehicle changing by The Looneys on their travels and shots of Nettles flying the helicopter.

Perhaps most interesting from the leaks is the changing geography. The Area 51 sequence would have obviously taken the characters from Georgia to Nevada, and it's been rumored the Ultimate Predator's ship was meant to be in Florida, with the final confrontation taking place in the Everglades. In the finished film, it appears close to the McKenna's hometown, with the swamp for the final battle an extension of the forest. This, again, points towards a lot of connective elements removed, not least a longer time period being covered.

Related: The Predator: Every Easter Egg & Movie Connection

What Else In The Predator Could Be A Reshoot?

Olivia Munn and Sterling K Brown in The Predator

Along with everything discussed, there are several incongruous parts of The Predator that feel like they could be reshoots, or at least altered from what was originally shot. There isn't any strong evidence here, but using everything we've uncovered there must have been some story alterations.

One weird recurring aspect is the lobotomized Hell-Hound, which pops up periodically to push the narrative forward before Olivia Munn shoos or locks it away. The isolated nature of these scenes - and the fact it's always Munn with the creature - make it seem likely a reshoot of sorts, possibly an attempt to add some sci-fi levity. That said, it may also be a CGI budgetary consideration or a chopping down of an original Black idea.

On a bigger scale, the sequence at the barn also strikes as weird. Choppy editing and confused capturing of The Looneys aside, it exists to mainly move what we believe to be reshot character arcs into place and bridge the gap left by the cutting of the Area 51 and good Predator fight.

Did The Predator Reshoots Ruin The Movie?

The Predator 2018 poster

And so, as with any discussion of seismic reshoots, the question as always comes down to whether they were worth it? This is always hard to quantify as any changes are undoubtedly done by a studio in an attempt to increase a movie's audience appeal and commercial viability, meaning at the very least they thought what they had wouldn't hit right and wanted to improve it. It's a question of whether Fox attempted to save a bad movie or The Predator just too risque for the studio and they gutted it.

Related: Predators Is The Only Worth Predator Sequel

Most of what does work in the film - the uninterrupted banter between The Looneys, the creative use of Predator tech, the sometimes shocking R-rated violence - evidently comes from Black's original ideas, but so too did he bring the ill-fitting idea of hybridization and an attempt to explore mental illness through B-movie tropes. His decision to shoot many sequences in light is also tough, but that needn't mean the APC or hybrid attack would have flopped - especially as most of the negative reactions to those images and the leaked script come from disgruntled fans who an emotional involvement that skews measuring of quality.

What's clear is that the reshoots led to a lot of the surface level problems with the theatrical version of The Predator. The confusing shot-to-shot editing, the breakneck narrative flow, and general lack of coherence all stem from the retooling of the movie after it was near completion. Whatever Black had before, it would surely have been a more ordered piece of filmmaking regardless of its handling of Predator mythology or mental illness.

This is something similar to Justice League, with what was primed to be another Snyder DCEU film turned into a tonal battle between his and Joss Whedon's styles. While we don't know if the much-disucssed Snyder assembly cut was actually any good, the overall auteur vision surely means it would have been more acceptable than the Frankenstein released by Warner Bros. The clash in The Predator is only from one voice and the studio, so it's less jarring than that example, but the point stands: the film would surely have been a more complete experience if it had been left untouched.

As it stands, The Predator is another movie undone by reshoots, where the cuts and additions are so large scale and damaging on an artistic level there's no way the earlier version can't have been more interesting. When discussing the changes, Black alleged there could be scope for an alternate cut of the film on home video (via AvPGalaxy), although did acknowledge the scale of the changes would mean the effects would likely be unfinished. Nevertheless, given the state the theatrical version is in, perhaps we should ask Fox to #ReleaseTheBlackCut.

Next: Read Our Review Of The Predator

Key Release Dates

  • The Predator 2018 poster
    Predator
    Release Date:
    2018-09-14