Spoilers ahead for the plot and ending of Predator: Killer of Killers.
Dan Trachtenberg has made a career out of keeping us on our toes. His 2022 film Prey was, at the time, the best-reviewed movie in the Predator franchise, its appeal almost certainly buoyed by the fact that its plot was kept tightly under wraps during production — including that it featured a Yautja at all. Set in the Great Plains in 1719, Prey was not what anyone expected from the Predator series, and it helped solidify its director’s ability to subvert expectations. Trachtenberg’s next bombshell came in October 2024, when it was revealed that he’d been working on a secret Predator movie outside of the already announced Predator: Badlands, hitting theaters in November of this year.
That bonus film, Predator: Killer of Killers, dropped on Hulu on June 6 and instantly supplanted Prey as the new best-reviewed movie in the franchise. But for those looking for a bridge to Predator: Badlands or, indeed, any kind of closure at all may find themselves disappointed by the ending of Killer of Killers. The film, written by Micho Robert Rutare from a story co-written by Trachtenberg, is wildly open-ended, and not in a way that’s likely to be resolved in the next movie. That’s aside from the inclusion of a Prey Easter egg, which opens up a massive can of worms for the franchise as a whole. Move over, infamously maligned ending of 2018’s The Predator — there’s a new cliffhanger in town.
Comparing the Shane Black-helmed The Predator and Killer of Killers is a little unfair, as few would argue that Trachtenberg’s animated installment isn’t a far superior film. The new movie capitalizes on Prey’s proof of concept about Predators into different time periods, using a four-part anthology approach for its own eras tour. The first chapter, “The Shield,” takes place in 841 Scandinavia, as Viking warrior Ursa squares off against a Predator who gets in the way of her mission to destroy a rival clan. “The Sword” jumps forward to 1609 Japan, with ninja Kenji joining forces with his estranged samurai lord brother Kiyoshi to take down a different Yautja. (Google “predator feudal japan reddit” to see how rabid fans have been for this particular setting.) And in “The Bullet,” set in the U.S. during World War II, Torres is a fighter pilot who ends up in an aerial battle against a Predator starship.
It’s in the fourth section of the movie that Killer of Killers reveals its true purpose. Now on an alien planet in the distant future — it’s not clear exactly when the final act takes place — Ursa, Kenji, and Torres wake up from centuries of suspended animation after being abducted by the Yautja. They find themselves deposited in a gladiatorial arena where they’re instructed by the Warlord Predator to fight to the death, with the ultimate victor being declared the “killer of killers” and earning his or her ticket to freedom. They’re given era-appropriate weapons (minus Torres’ 18th-century flintlock pistol) and collars that will explode if they step out of line. Critically, the Predator’s language is translated so that the three warriors can understand their captors, but that kindness does not extend to letting the prisoners understand each other. As Kenji tries to explain that the way to defeat the creature is to join forces instead of fighting one another, Ursa goes on the attack. It’s only when the Warlord Predator unleashes a giant alien beast to raise the stakes — and, presumably, keep the crowd entertained — that the three humans start working together. Torres is able to steal a hoverbike while Ursa and Kenji take down the beast, and all three head for the Warlord Predator’s ship.
They don’t make it there in one piece — Kenji loses an arm en route. But even bleeding badly, he arrives on the ship alongside his new allies, and it looks as though Torres’ flight experience will be enough to help them navigate to safety. (That they’re displaced from their own times and lost somewhere deep in the far reaches of space is a later problem.) When the Yautja harpoon the ship from below, the humans are temporarily blocked from taking off until Ursa decides to sacrifice herself, sliding down the cable and severing it from the ship. Torres and Kenji fly off, as the Warlord Predator orders the Yautja to hunt for the escaped prisoners. Ursa, meanwhile, is captured and placed back in suspended animation. She’s stored alongside countless other Predator killers — including one familiar face. In the final moments of Killer of Killers, we see that the Yautja have also abducted Naru, the central character of Prey, played in that film by Amber Midthunder. At some point after the events of the 1719-set movie, Naru was also abducted, and has presumably spent the last several centuries trapped on this ship.
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Naru’s silent cameo isn’t entirely surprising. The flintlock pistol that Torres is given by the Yautja to fight his fellow prisoners is known by Predator fans as the Raphael Adolini 1715 pistol for an engraved plate that says just that. It first showed up in 1990’s Predator 2, a gift from the Predators to Danny Glover’s Lieutenant Mike Harrigan for successfully defeating one of their own. In Prey, we meet Adolini himself, a translator for French trappers who teaches Naru how to use the pistol in exchange for her medical assistance. When Naru kills the Predator, she brings its head and the Raphael Adolini 1715 pistol back to her tribe — but we know from the earlier film that it ended up back in Predator possession at some point in the 278 years between when the two movies take place. The final shot of Prey seemed to tease a big battle between the Comanches and the Predators, but perhaps those ships had merely arrived to spirit Naru (and her souvenir pistol) away.
The real shock of seeing Naru on the ship at the end of Killer of Killers is what it means for the franchise as a whole. Predator 2 established that the Yautja value humans who kill a Predator — they even give them presents! But the new movie reveals that what happens to Ursa, Kenji, and Torres is not an isolated incident. Predators will return to the scenes of their crimes and kidnap warriors for later use in gladiatorial combat. With that in mind, any survivor of a past Predator movie could conceivably be stuck on that same ship, ready to be thawed at a moment’s notice.
That brings us (as so many things do) to Arnold Schwarzenegger, star of the original 1987 Predator, and the source of endless rumors about a return to the franchise. While Dutch hasn’t been seen since he escaped on the chopper at the end of the first movie — unless you count the novelizations or the video games, which you really shouldn’t — that’s not for lack of trying. Predator 2 was originally envisioned as a team-up movie with Schwarzenegger and Patrick Swayze before the concept fell through. Later, Schwarzenegger allegedly agreed to a cameo in 2004’s Alien vs. Predator on the condition that he lost the governorship of California, which didn’t happen. (A real “whoever wins… we lose” situation.) He was also courted for appearances in 2010’s Predators and The Predator. Now, Killer of Killers has delivered the perfect opportunity to bring Dutch back into the fold: Perhaps he was abducted at some point in the ‘90s, and has spent untold years in suspended animation. The fact that Schwarzenegger is now nearly 40 years older than he was in Predator is the kind of thing that could easily be explained away — or a total non-issue, if the follow-up to Killer of Killers is also animated. Arnold, thankfully, still sounds like Arnold.
For the time being, this is all idle speculation, but it’s widespread enough that Trachtenberg himself is commenting on it. In a recent interview with Polygon, he said, “Certainly Arnold, like many others, was a survivor of his story, and one could easily imagine him up there in cryo, along with any other Earth champion or champion from other planets.” In other words, it’s a maybe, though I wouldn’t hold my breath for Dutch’s imminent return in Predator: Badlands, which stars Elle Fanning as a Weyland-Yutani android who joins forces with an outcast Predator. As good as Trachtenberg is at keeping secrets, this particular one seems unlikely.
And implausibility aside, is a long-awaited Dutch appearance really what this franchise needs? The enormous success of Prey showed us that the best Predator stories may be the truly standalone ones. Believe it or not, these movies often succeed on restraint. Fans may be clamoring for a star-studded team-up movie of past series actors, but Trachtenberg should continue following his own instincts, wherever they lead him. Don’t give audiences what they want — give them what they need.
