'The Predator' Will Reveal Why Predators Come To Earth

A source of horrifying mystery, the Predator franchise never really sought to understand the inner workings of those dangerous aliens. Plus, it seems like their motivation is telegraphed in their very name: Predator. They hunt humans because that's what they do.

But Shane Black's The Predator will explore the greater details of why these extraterrestrial creatures came to Earth and what exactly they plan to do there.

Black, who brings the franchise full circle after starring in John McTiernan's original 1987 Predator, is making sure to include connections tot he previous films in the series. The Predator 2 connection is obvious, with Jake Busey appearing as the son of Gary Busey's character, Peter Keyes. But The Predator has more than just name recognition going for it — it promises to explore the backstory of the extraterrestrial monsters.

Jake Busey spoke with Pop Culture about how The Predator will add to what the three previous Predator films have brought to the pop culture pantheon:

"This one definitely falls in line with the original franchise in that it does focus on the technology that the Predators have. It focuses on what the goal of the Predators is, and what their modus operandi, and why they come to the planet, and that type of thing. It's definitely in line with the original franchise."

Busey went on to describe The Predator's place in the chronology, with the film taking place in the 2010's after the events of Predator 2 (1990) which took place in 1997 Los Angeles, but before the vaguely futuristic Predators (2010).

While the rest of the plot has been kept under a tight lid — well, except for the exorbitant details that co-star Thomas Jane revealed — Busey's comments are in line with what we know of The Predator. There will be multiple Predators running around and it will take place in the United States, possibly in the suburbs. But based on Busey's comments, it sounds like they're not just hunting humans for sports, but have some other sinister motivation.

For a refresher on our growing knowledge of The Predator, here's Thomas Jane's colorful description of the plot once again:

"We play these veterans from like Afghanistan or the Iraq War or whatever. But we're all fucking crazy so we go to the VA hospital to get our meds. We're all like shellshocked, PTSD soldiers. We're at the VA hospital and we're in group therapy and of course, somebody flips out – this is backstory, I don't think we really see this – somebody flips out and we all get arrested and get thrown onto the bus to go down to the hospital and they throw this other guy on the bus too.

And he's a guy they've actually marked to kill him because he's seen a UFO, he's seen the Predator ships come down so they lock him up and throw him in with us lunatics. They're going to take that bus, drive it down to a ditch and shoot us all just to get rid of this one guy. But, of course, we take the bus over and we're all like 'fuck that, man, let's go kill these fucking Predators ourselves.' And we're just crazy enough to believe that this guy really did see a UFO and there's these aliens out there. So that's kinda cool!"

The Predator stars Thomas Jane, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Boyd Holbrook, Edward James Olmos, Trevante Rhodes, Augusto Aguilera, Alfie Allen, and Yvonne Strahovski. It arrives in theaters on August 3, 2018.