Why Predator: Killer Of Killers Added Arnold Schwarzenegger After The Film's Release

There are many reasons to delete a scene from a movie, such as time, pacing, or avoiding a worse rating from the Motion Picture Association. Sometimes, these scenes can truly enhance a movie, if they're added in a subsequent extended edition, as we've seen with movies like "Blade Runner" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. If you don't catch the new version after release, you might miss some truly spectacular moments.

This happened with "Predator: Killer of Killers," when director Dan Trachtenberg suddenly released a new ending to the movie a couple of weeks after the initial release. It was already one of the best sci-fi movies of the year, but an extended scene made it even better. 

The film follows warriors throughout different eras of human history facing the titular alien killers and winning. Their prize? Being kidnapped and placed in suspended animation by the Yutja until they find a convenient time to unfreeze them and have them fight in a gladiatorial arena for their own amusement. 

At the very end of the film, as the surviving body of Ursa (voiced by Lindsay LaVanchy) is being taken back to their freezer, we see thousands of humans and other creatures in suspended animation, including Naru (Amber Midthunder) from "Prey." But the new ending also added Lieutenant Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) and none other than Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer (Arnold Schwarzenegger) from the very first "Predator" movie.

The inclusion of Mike and Dutch only happened after the (already quite spectacular) movie was initially released on Hulu. Trachtenberg explained the decision in an interview with SFX magazine for their October 2025 issue, explaining that the scene was fully animated and done, but there was one reason they couldn't release it with those two additional appearances.

"It was made, and the deals were not done," Trachtenberg said, explaining that they decided to hold back on releasing the scene. "Then the deals were done. So it was like, 'Well, what do we do?' And it became, 'Well, we could announce it at Comic Con.'"

Trachtenberg played coy on whether the cameo in "Predator: Killer of Killers" means we might see Schwarzenegger return to the franchise down the line, simply saying "I do not know. I don't know yet."

Of course, the doors are now open for the potential return of every single character who has ever survived a "Predator" movie, with the "Killer of Killers" coda explaining what happens to them after their encounter with the Yautja. Does this mean Trachtenberg will one day give us a live-action or even animated movie that pits Dutch, Mike, Naru, and even Royce (Adrien Brody in "Predators") or Quinn McKenna (Boyd Holbrook in "The Predator") together against a team of Yautja? Not necessarily, but the seal is now broken, and the idea is out there.

We know that Trachtenberg, who seems to be the man in charge of bringing big ideas to the "Predator" franchise, has some exquisitely weird taste, such as giving us a "Predator" movie entirely about a Yautja, or slowly connecting the franchise with the "Alien" franchise at the same time as 20th Century Studios boss Steve Asbell teases the return of "Alien vs. Predator" in some form. If anyone can figure out a way to make that crossover work, and maybe have Schwarzenegger punch a Xenomorph in the face, it's Dan Trachtenberg.