The upcoming Tremors: Shrieker Island is the seventh installment in the long-lasting Tremors franchise that has followed the threat of Graboids and their various monstrous stages across the entire world and even back through the ages with a prequel set in the wild west.
Shrieker Island will see the return of the series' star and dedicated monster hunter Burt Gummer (played by Michael Gross), who will be joined by yet another new assistant played by Jon Heder. Heder isn't the first new monster hunter to join the team, and while fans might not know how he'll handle himself yet, he has some tough competition from a mostly elite gang of Graboid hunters.
Black Hand Kelly
2004's Tremors 4: The Legend Begins jumped back to 1889 and the developing frontier town of the soon-to-be-renamed Rejection, Nevada, as the town's inhabitants dealt with a new stage in the Graboid's life cycle that became known as Dirt Dragons.
A mercenary named Black Hand Kelly (played by Billy Drago) was hired to help deal with the miniature monsters on account of his history as a gunfighter in the wild west, though he soon proved ineffective when he encountered a full-grown Graboid and went from infamous gunslinger to monster snack.
Desert Jack Sawyer
"Desert" Jack Sawyer (played by Shawn Christian) first appeared in Tremors 3: Back To Perfection, which revisited the Nevada town from the first film and introduced a few new characters alongside returning ones and carried on the legacy of others.
Desert Jack ran a phony tourist attraction that used tricks to simulate the presence of a Graboid which helped bring in business to the struggling town. When the Graboids, Shriekers, and A$$ Blasters arrived in town, Sawyer assisted the crew in taking them out, though if he was on his own his chances would not have been great.
Hiram Gummer
Michael Gross has starred in every single Tremors film, which is not an easy feat considering one is a prequel, but he appeared as Burt's great-grandfather Hiram Gummer as he first arrived in the town of Rejection to defend the town's silver mine and the last of his family's fortune.
Hiram was nothing like his militaristic descendent Burt, though he soon learned an appreciation for weaponry and preparedness from mercenary Black Hand Kelly that he would use along with the last of his fortune to take out the Graboids and help build the newly named town of Perfection.
Jodi Chang
1990's Tremors introduced Walter Chang (played by Victor Wong), proprietor of Chang's Market in Perfection, and one of the victims of that film's Graboid attack, though as was revealed in Tremors 3: Back To Perfection, his legacy would live on.
His niece Jodi Chang (played by Susan Chuang) would take over the Market and assist Burt and Desert Jack with protecting the town from the new Graboid attack, naming the A$$ Blasters just like her father named the Graboids. Jodi would also appear on TV in Tremors: The Series, played by Lela Lee.
El Blanco
The final monster hunter that was introduced in Tremors 3: Back To Perfection is not like the other members of the unofficial team and could be just as dangerous, as El Blanco is actually a full-grown Graboid.
However, El Blanco is a sterile, albino Graboid that isn't able to produce Shriekers making him far older and quite a bit different than the rest of the monsters. El Blanco often works alongside the residents of Perfection and hunts down other monsters, and even made the jump to TV on Tremors: The Series.
Grady Hoover
While most Graboid hunters fall into the profession during an attack, Grady Hoover (played by Christopher Gartin) actively sought out the role after his job as a taxi driver brought him into contact with Earl Basset (played by Fred Ward) in Tremors 2: Aftershocks.
Hoover learns the tricks of the trade with the finest tools thanks to the Mexican government when they head south to deal with Graboids and have their first encounter with the vicious Shriekers. Hoover used the money he made to start a Graboid theme park that became very successful.
Travis Welker
When Travis Welker (played by Jamie Kennedy) first appeared in 2015's Tremors 5: Bloodlines, he was part of the camera crew working on Burt Gummer's Graboid hunting/survivalist show as they traveled to Africa to investigate reports of a deadly new species of Graboids.
However, Travis soon revealed that Graboid hunting ran in his blood and that he was the illegitimate child of Burt Gummer, which led the two to begin to develop a relationship as father and son monster hunters, which led to Travis' return in 2018's Tremors 6: A Cold Day In Hell.
Val McKee
Kevin Bacon starred as Valentine McKee in the first Tremors as one-half of the handyman duo alongside Earl Bassett as Perfection encountered the underground Graboids for the first and only time in theaters.
Val's bravery and ingenuity were essential in not only taking out the Graboids but helping develop the hunting technique that would be employed by every hunter that followed. While Val only fought the monsters once (despite Kevin Bacon's attempts at a TV revival), his daughter Valerie McKee (played by Jamie-Lee Money) carried on the family business in Tremors 6.
Earl Bassett
Fred Ward played the role of Earl Bassett in the original Tremors and the 1996 direct-to-video sequel Tremors 2: Aftershocks, where he used his experience and determination to become one of the franchise's best monster hunters, even if he was one of the most unwilling.
While the character didn't benefit much from the fame of the first Graboid attack, he profited from the Mexican hunt and went into business with Grady on the Graboid themed monster park after meeting the love of his life and getting his "second big chance."
Burt Gummer
Without a doubt, the best Graboid hunter in the franchise is Michael Gross's Burt Gummer, an overprepared survivalist who supplied the weaponry and the knowhow (passed down from his great-grandfather Hiram) to help take out the Graboids in the first film.
He was the first person Earl called in the sequel when they needed backup, and he became the world's foremost expert in Graboids which he leveraged into a new career as both a monster hunter and a famous TV personality as more of the monsters appeared around the world.