Warning! This Article Contains SPOILERS For Prey!A reveal at the end of Prey might have changed the ending of the original Predator movie. Prey, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, is the latest film in the Predator franchise. Prey's back-to-basics approach and unique setting has been celebrated as a return to form for the series after the lackluster response to Shane Black's The Predator.
The original Predator concludes with a brutal one-on-one fight between Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch and the "Jungle Hunter" Predator, after the rest of Dutch's team of commandos have been killed by the "Jungle Hunter", except for captured insurgent Anna. Dutch mortally wounds the Predator, only for the "Jungle Hunter" to activate its self-destruct device. Dutch barely escapes the blast but is quickly rescued by his team's extraction helicopter, and reunites with the still-alive Anna.
Predator's ending is a simple and victorious one: Dutch kills the Predator and leaves the jungle alongside Anna, alive. Prey's ending is a little more ambiguous, however. Although Naru (Amber Midthunder) is successfully able to kill the "Feral" Predator, utilizing a bog pit and the Predator's own mask, Prey ends with a hide painting depicting three more Predator ships landing on Comanche territory with unknown intentions. Since Prey shows that Predators keep an eye on each other when they are on the hunt, it is now implied that they had been watching Dutch in Predator when he defeated the "Jungle Hunter" and could have followed him in the helicopter.
Prey Denies Dutch's Peaceful Predator Ending
Although Prey does not answer exactly what the Predators inside those ships have in mind with Naru and the rest of her tribe, or Dutch, there are clues in the rest of the Predator franchise. At the end of Predator 2, Lieutenant Harrigan (Danny Glover) kills the "City Hunter" Predator and is subsequently gifted an antique flintlock pistol, acquired by Naru in Prey. Seeing as Naru returns to her tribe with the pistol, the clear implication of Naru's fate following the landing of the Predator ships is her death or capture rather than a gift.
Predator ships landing shortly after the ending of the original Predator would rob Dutch of his peaceful ending, no matter how they treat him. If his possible encounter with Predator ships follows the implication of Naru's experience then his disappearance from the rest of the Predator film franchise would be simply explained with his death. However, even if his experience is more of a positive one, like Mike Harrigan's, he is still a traumatized soldier dealing with both being the sole survivor of his commando team and the existence of aliens, who also routinely hunt humans for sport. The implication that Dutch encounters Predator ships after killing the "Jungle Hunter", due to the credits scene in Prey, denies Dutch's original, more peaceful ending in Predator.