Arnold Schwarzenegger confirms he turned down The Predator role but will be in new Terminator more

We all know that Arnold Schwarzenegger has had a long and fun career in Hollywood but there’s no real arguing that his two most iconic roles were The Terminator and Predator.

And now both movies are in different states of sequel production. Meaning The Predator is coming and Terminator 6 is, well, anyone’s guess.

We recently reported that Terminator 6 will not be happening after the disappointing Terminator: Genisys (here) but then it was revealed that in fact the franchise is coming back in a big way (here).

And this has been confirmed by Schwarzenegger himself now (we’re coming back to Predator don’t worry). Doing the press tour for his new movie Aftermath, Arnie said: “I’m looking forward to doing another Terminator movie, yes.”

Wait, so it’s not a dead franchise? The actor said: “I don’t want to call it, like, fake news, like the president calls it, but I think people just write things — I have no idea why. Just because Paramount doesn’t want to pick up the Terminator franchise, you have 15 other studios willing to do it — that doesn’t mean the Terminator franchise is finished, right? It just means they are on their way to negotiate with another studio, but I can’t give you the details of that. They’ll announce that. But, yes, the Terminator franchise is never finished. And remember that after 2018, James Cameron is getting it back, and then it will continue on!”

It’s interesting that he mentioned Cameron as we have suspected (see second link above) that Cameron may have plans for new Terminator movies once he gets the rights back – remember the rumour that Cameron was talking with Deadpool director Tim Miller to direct (here)? Well, Schwarzenegger also said:  “Cameron will be producing it, and there will be another director on it. I’m always looking forward to doing another Terminator, especially if the story is written well and it really entertains the whole world.” 

He also confirmed Triplets – the sequel to Twins – is still in the works. Although at that point he was also talking about the new Conan movie and we now know it’s dead in the water: “No sequel to Kindergarten Cop, unfortunately. Just Triplets and Conan right now.”

Notably, the actor didn’t mention The Predator which is currently being written and directed by Shane black and he’s long been rumoured to appear in. And now it seems we know why.

The actor played Dutch in the original movie in 1987 (thirty years ago!) and, as fans of the franchise, we at FTN have wanted to see him return to the franchise for a loooooong time. And it looks like it may have been in the works for this outing. But no longer.

Speaking to Yahoo!, the actor said: “They asked me, and I read it, and I didn’t like it — whatever they offered. So I’m not going to do that, no. Except if there’s a chance that they rewrite it, or make it a more significant role. But the way it is now, no, I won’t do that.”

AvPGalaxy are reporting that the role was a (now very popular) cameo – possibly mid-credits –  that would only have been a few lines and was likely to lead into a sequel which, it seems, is already at planning stage.

Would it have meant a bigger role i the movie after The Predator? Who knows, but the man himself says that, unless its a bigger role, he’s not interested. Which is a shame.

Shane Black himself has confirmed as much on twitter too (below).

It would be awesome if they could work something out because the idea that Dutch is still out there and still fighting Predators makes us pretty happy.

What about you? Let us know your thoughts…

@iamJermaineP @MPredator24 Me too… I spoke with him, I think it was that he didn’t have enough to do. Enough presence in the film.

— Shane Black (@BonafideBlack) April 6, 2017

Source: Fandango & Collider