How Shane Black's The Predator Sets Up a Sequel

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Shane Black’s The Predator, in theaters now.

After eight years away from the big screen, The Predator returns the eponymous extraterrestrial hunter to theaters with Fox's latest attempt to revive the sci-fi action franchise. While director Shane Black has certainly delivered a complete story, he and series producer John Davis have admitted they hope this sequel serves as the first installment of a new trilogy.

With that in mind, Black leaves plenty of material to follow up on for future installments, including the possibility of the return of several characters -- well, the ones who survive, at least.

Early in the film, Sterling K. Brown's government agent Will Traeger explains that Predators have been visiting Earth with increasing frequency for the past several years. With the revelation the aliens have been harvesting the DNA of worthy opponents to upgrade themselves through gene splicing comes the realization that, with the planet threatened by climate change, the more frequent visits are due to the Predators seeking to harvest as much genetic material as they can before humanity wipes itself out.

The fugitive Predator arrives on Earth bearing a sealed package to ostensibly help humanity evolve for the coming conflict with the newer, genetically enhanced ultimate Predators. Additionally, Jacob Tremblay's child prodigy Rory McKenna demonstrates a preternatural ability to learn the alien's language and comprehend the futuristic technology, placing him and the mysterious device in the cross hairs of the ultimate Predator, who seeks to recover the package and harvest the child's DNA.

In response to the increased Predator activity, the U.S. government has founded a top-secret organization to monitor and analyze the extraterrestrial trespassers, with scientists Sean Keyes (Jake Busey) and Casey Brackett (Olivia Munn) leading the study. By the film's end, the ultimate Predator and the fugitive it's tracking are both dead, as are most of the human characters, including Traeger. Among those left standing are McKenna and his father Quinn (Boyd Holbrook), Brackett and Keyes, who is gravely wounded early the film but possibly survives.

As humanity prepares for the next inevitable arrival of Predators, the organization, which now includes the McKennas, with Rory helping to decipher the alien technology, finally recovers the package in the closing scene.

As the pod containing the futuristic device opens, the assembled analysts reveal it's referred to as the "Predator Killer." A scientist too close to the pod has the device suddenly attach itself to his arm and envelop his entire body, revealing an intimidating set of Predator armor, more heavily armed than any other seen before. Visibly impressed by the form-fitting alien battlesuit, Quinn declares he will be the one to become its primary user, quipping with the final line that he hopes it has come in his size.

With an internal conflict of sorts already depicted between the smaller, more traditionally designed Predators and their larger counterparts, Black and co-writer Fred Dekker have expanded the concept of the alien species being at war with itself, which was introduced in 2010's Predators. That expansion, underscored by the classic Predators delivering new technology to humanity in an effort to save them from the new threat, teases a potential team-up between Earth and the classic Predators against the ultimate, evolved offshoot of the hunters.

That, with Quinn strongly hinted at becoming Earth's greatest protector using the advanced Predator war suit, suggests a much more level playing field between humanity and the technologically advanced extraterrestrials. The human characters don't exactly play nice with their Predator benefactors in the new film, but with a better understanding of the alien language and technology, as well as the insurgent Predators' motives, a more conventional team-up could very much be in store for the future.

At its core, the Predator franchise will always be about the titular aliens stalking human prey in a variety of locations. Now, with a considerable arsenal of the Predator technology at their disposal -- including fearsome Predator Killer -- Quinn and the remaining characters won't necessarily have to be playing defense.

Directed by Shane Black from a script he wrote with Fred Dekker, The Predator stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Alfie Allen, Thomas Jane, Augusto Aguilera, Jake Busey, and Yvonne Strahovski. The film is out in theaters everywhere now.

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How The Predator Sets Up a Sequel