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We recently had the pleasure of speaking to Alex Litvak, one of the writers of Predators, for the next episode of the Alien vs. Predator Galaxy Podcast! We covered a lot of topics during the episode, including many of the “could-have-been” scenarios that the Predator series could have gone had some other pitches been developed.

Alex shared a lot of details about his time working at Fox where he pitched concepts to revive Predator before he worked on Predators, how wildly different Predators would have ended if it followed his and Mike Finch’s very first draft. Alex also told us about the direction that Robert Rodriguez, Nimrod Antal, Mike Finch and himself had discussed with 20th Century Fox following the release of Predators!

In the sequel – now this is with Royce and Isabelle – they’re still on the planet, they’re still stuck there. And they [the Predators] keep dropping more people. And the opening of the movie was that somebody new gets dropped and a Predator shows up about to kill this person. Boom! The Predator gets killed and it’s Royce and Isabelle showing up saying “welcome to the resistance.”

So now they have their own little tribe on the planet where they’re surviving, they’re being hunted but they’re also striking back so we establish the way they are. We also establish that Royce and Isabelle are incredibly valuable targets because these guys [the Berserker/Super Predators] are all about the genetic upgrades. They want their DNA. But they’re still stuck here. They’ve got their foothold on survival, but how do we get back to Earth? There’s only one way. We’ve got to get on the Predator ship.

At the end of Act One Royce, Isabelle and their guys are captured by Super Predators –  on purpose because they allow themselves to be captured – and are brought to their ship that they use to funnel people to this planet. There’s got to be some sort of big transport. So now you get to see this transport. So our guys breakout…and what the movie is is Die Hard on a Predator ship.

The idea was now you break free and now you’re trying to take control of the ship with all of the Super Predators you have to fight there. And of course all the other shit that’s there…like the alien zoo on that ship… And get this…the last thing is why Drew [20th Century Fox] was like “wow, I love that idea!” At the end of the day we win, we get back to Earth, we land and we realise it’s the future! All along we thought this was happening now, but what if these guys have been on ice for 300 years? The hatch opens, and the Space [Colonial] Marines come in!

That was how we merge the two worlds – the Alien and Predator world finally merge and bring the Space Marines into the story. He [Drew at Fox] goes “I f**king love it!” We just kept waiting for him to say “go write this”…I can’t speak to that, but I guess some stars never lined up so that version never got off the ground.

As well as the possible Predators 2 ideas, Alex also told us about a pitch he made for a separate fourth Predator film prior to Shane Black’s The Predator starting up. Be sure to check back in with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy on 31st of August at 4pm GMT for our full interview with Predators writer Alex Litvak!

Make sure you stick with Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on Alien and Predator! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums!

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Quotethese guys [the Berserker/Super Predators] are all about the genetic upgrades. They want their DNA.

So, DNA angle and Super/Upgrade Predators would be present in Predators 2 anyway ? Take that, The Predator haters !  ;D

QuoteThat was how we merge the two worlds – the Alien and Predator world finally merge and bring the Space Marines into the story.

And they tried to merge franchises, too ? Take that again, The Predator haters !  ;D ;D

Also, mentioning of "zoo" sounds like one of these scrapped ideas for The Predator.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, Hicks

That wouldve been damn cool! I really wish they wouldve made that!!!

Predators was the best Predator film since the first! That last Predator movie we got was just turrible!!!

Man they need to scap the dna idea just ruins the the 2 movies, they hunt for dna? 😂 nah its for sport dont ruin it again

So glad that their vision was to finally get them off!  This would have been my dream, sans the DNA and time skip :'(  Seems like it could have been a very interesting sequel.  The whole "survivor tribe" is pretty neat too.

Looking forward to the full interview!

Die Hard on a Predator ship actually sounds like a fun little concept. I would have enjoyed that, I think. I also like the idea of the time jump, though I am less fond of using that as a way to get Aliens and Colonial Marines into the franchise. Just let Predator do its own thing.

Souns like the best idea for a Predator movie since Predator 2.

..... well that's a cool idea. Sounds dope, way to go Fox. Great article, lookin forward to the podcast. Predators is way underrated. Let's hope the license makes it way back in that direction some day.

I do not care much for the DNA aspect much . Unless for creating game maybe ? Creating a freak to hunt would have been fun maybe.

Sounds like fun. I think my only two complaints are the DNA harvesting, because that was a lame idea in The Predator and it's still a lame idea. And I don't like the idea that they were frozen for 300 years. I love AVP, but I feel Predator should have it's own story without any regard to Aliens, which is why I felt the problem I had with the Concrete Jungle video game was that there were too many Alien elements. It reminds me of a joke AVP meme I saw before meme's became a thing where Predator and Alien are staring face to face and Predator says "I wish I could quit you." Basically, for once, I'd like to see Predator without Alien references. But everything else I liked. I think what I like most was the new people dropped on and Royce and Isabelle teaming up with them and teaming up with other alien prey, that was actually based on my own PredatorS fan fiction sequel.

Sounds like a great concept, I would have gone to seen it.  Too bad that this probably won't get made, but fingers crossed.

So were Royce and Isabelle autistic all along?

I definitely think that'd be an interesting take. Maybe a novelized version of it will appear some day..

Now this I could have been down with.  I liked Predators reasonably well, and I would say the film has aged well and I find myself liking it more and more.

Just a reminder that both negative and positive opinions are welcome, as long as they're presented in a mature manner.

I'm not sure I fully understand the rejection towards the idea of any Predators using genetic augmentation, even if those Predators who do practice this are shunned "pariah" clans. Is anyone willing to share their thoughts on this? What exactly is the part that feels most wrong?

The Predators have long been shown to adorn themselves with the trappings, technology and body parts of their prey. Are trophied genetics all that different to an advanced race? Humans have subcultures who practice transhumanism, wouldn't the Yautja have similar subsects of their own cultures?

Is the detraction some feel more of a visceral reaction? Like a more subtle uncanny valley type revulsion, or something else entirely?

Frankly, if they can travel through space, they can fiddle with their genetics. At least for me, I don't see the issue.

Them f**kin around with the genetics is fine it all just comes down to framing. Like nothing really makes the Assassin in concept a problem and ultimately when they finally made him he wasn't the issue, it's the second half of The Predator that people take issue with given how much that thing was butchered. But no in concept it's fine.

The genetics was already fine given we've seen them screwing around with Xenomorphs so they have to have some idea on how to mess with it.

Quote from: SuperiorIronman on Aug 29, 2020, 11:25:47 PM
Them f**kin around with the genetics is fine it all just comes down to framing. Like nothing really makes the Assassin in concept a problem and ultimately when they finally made him he wasn't the issue, it's the second half of The Predator that people take issue with given how much that thing was butchered. But no in concept it's fine.

The genetics was already fine given we've seen them screwing around with Xenomorphs so they have to have some idea on how to mess with it.

True, I always assumed that the Aliens used in the first AvP comics were genetically modified by the Yautja to always produce crafty intelligent human-style bugs, regardless of the actual host. This way you always get a challenging hunt instead of dealing with a bunch of random Sheep Aliens or some such .Although I would really like to see a true double horned Rynth Alien sometime; I just love those freaking pokesnoots.

Having them alter their genetics is everything that is wrong with The Predator by Shane Black, what would be the point of being an alien hunter who prides itself on its capacity to hunt if it completely removes the entire point of hunting...the challenge! If you are genetically improving yourself to the point of basically being unstoppable it takes away the challenge predators were after in the first place, in the first movie Jungle Hunter was basically toying with Dutch's team because he could destroy them any time he wanted, it got so easy that in the end instead of just eliminating Dutch, he just takes everything off to fight fairly to make it more challenging, it was not just for honor.

Quote from: Enjoy on Aug 29, 2020, 12:55:20 AM
I do not care much for the DNA aspect much . Unless for creating game maybe ? Creating a freak to hunt would have been fun maybe.

This makes more sense to me than Predators changing themselves. They're all about the hunt and a challenge; making themselves superior through genetic manipulation is cheating. Make better prey.

They nearly had me until the end, as how in the hell can you explain 300 years of progression in the future? Will Royce and Isabelle not pass away at that time? How does being on another planet slow or speed your aging process? Unless they take the Dutch route and upgrade themselves with some Pred DNA, mirroring how the Super Predators practice DNA splicing, I just don't see that ending as plausible.

If anything I rather like the idea of them making it back to earth in 2025 or 2029 and surprise the OWLF Organization with an impressed Dutch approaching them with cigar in mouth, recruiting them both to the organization. Wanna see how Dutch and OWLF react to the existence of a stronger breed of Predator that has no honor code and highly more advanced than their honorable counterparts.


One thing though about the introduction of Colonial Marines and Aliens tie in, it makes me wonder about the OWLF place in the future? I'm very glad that the OWLF makes a stronger and interesting presence in new Predator lore that makes things much more exciting in story telling and it does add that question about their future. Are they still around in 100 or 300 years from now? Disbanded? Do their plans interfere with Weyland Yutani? Will they be the benevolent counterpart to Weyland? Is The Company aware bout OWLF?  I'm curious to see a long lived Dutch observing Weyland activities from behind the scenes, and horrified about the existence of Aliens and Engineers. This man enhanced with long lived Predator DNA is really going to have in interesting future.

Quote from: SuperiorIronman on Aug 29, 2020, 11:25:47 PM
Them f**kin around with the genetics is fine it all just comes down to framing. Like nothing really makes the Assassin in concept a problem and ultimately when they finally made him he wasn't the issue, it's the second half of The Predator that people take issue with given how much that thing was butchered. But no in concept it's fine.

The genetics was already fine given we've seen them screwing around with Xenomorphs so they have to have some idea on how to mess with it.

Thank you! As with any sapient being with opinions, no one will have the same idea and that can be said for Preds and their views on how the Hunt should be.

Quote from: Mr.Turok on Aug 30, 2020, 02:19:22 AM
They nearly had me until the end, as how in the hell can you explain 300 years of progression in the future? Will Royce and Isabelle not pass away at that time? How does being on another planet slow or speed your aging process?

From what was stated, it seems like the Predators abducted Royce and company, kept them frozen for ~300 years, and then thawed them out and the events of Predators happened. Royse would have found out that he spent that long asleep before falling down onto the game preserve until the end of the sequel.

So in a roundabout way, Black was right about Predators taking place in the future. :laugh:

Quote from: (Bad Blood) on Aug 30, 2020, 12:26:43 AM
Having them alter their genetics is everything that is wrong with The Predator by Shane Black, what would be the point of being an alien hunter who prides itself on its capacity to hunt if it completely removes the entire point of hunting...the challenge! If you are genetically improving yourself to the point of basically being unstoppable it takes away the challenge predators were after in the first place, in the first movie Jungle Hunter was basically toying with Dutch's team because he could destroy them any time he wanted, it got so easy that in the end instead of just eliminating Dutch, he just takes everything off to fight fairly to make it more challenging, it was not just for honor.

Yeah, I think that's why any clan doing that would be shunned by the more prideful traditional clans. Personal genetic augmentation is perhaps a step too far for other clans to accept culturally, kinda like rich assholes going on "safari" with fully automatic assault rifles and shooting prey from helicopters or something. Some real "Two-Stripes" dishonorable kinda shiz. It certainly happens here and now on Earth, but what indeed is truly the point?

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Aug 30, 2020, 02:23:37 AM
From what was stated, it seems like the Predators abducted Royce and company, kept them frozen for ~300 years, and then thawed them out and the events of Predators happened. Royse would have found out that he spent that long asleep before falling down onto the game preserve until the end of the sequel.

What?

So you took some humans, held them for 300 years and then decide to hunt and kill them?

I mean I get that Predators are biologically immortal and can afford that luxury but thats still kind of....idk just doesn't seem right with me somehow. Like as if someone ordered fast food and decided to eat it three days later when you could have eaten it there and now when its fresh. EEeehhhh I feel like thats a bad comparison but its just the closest thing to how I feel about this idea.

Plus, in a selfish sort of way, it kills my idea of including them into Hunting Grounds. I feel like Royce and Isabelle can greatly fill in the info of the hybridizing Super Predator clan, mainly the Assassin Predator, that the OWLF and Stargazer encountered in 2018.

Quote from: Mr.Turok on Aug 30, 2020, 03:46:20 AM

Quote from: Nightmare Asylum on Aug 30, 2020, 02:23:37 AM
From what was stated, it seems like the Predators abducted Royce and company, kept them frozen for ~300 years, and then thawed them out and the events of Predators happened. Royse would have found out that he spent that long asleep before falling down onto the game preserve until the end of the sequel.

What?

So you took some humans, held them for 300 years and then decide to hunt and kill them?

I mean I get that Predators are biologically immortal and can afford that luxury but thats still kind of....idk just doesn't seem right with me somehow. Like as if someone ordered fast food and decided to eat it three days later when you could have eaten it there and now when its fresh. EEeehhhh I feel like thats a bad comparison but its just the closest thing to how I feel about this idea.

Plus, in a selfish sort of way, it kills my idea of including them into Hunting Grounds. I feel like Royce and Isabelle can greatly fill in the info of the hybridizing Super Predator clan, mainly the Assassin Predator, that the OWLF and Stargazer encountered in 2018.

I guess it would be more like a big trip to Costco or whatever one's local equivalent might be. Saving cash by buying in bulk sort of thing.

Waking up prey from multiple eras At the same time would be fun.
A nazi with a cowboy and a ninja and so forth

Quote from: Enjoy on Aug 30, 2020, 05:38:28 AM
Waking up prey from multiple eras At the same time would be fun.
A nazi with a cowboy and a ninja and so forth

Ooh, that's not a bad idea. I love that idea, reminds of a story I had in mind about people from different time periods being forced to fight each other. Though I think that might've been done, I think I saw it somewhere, but it would be an interesting element for Predator.

Quote from: Number13 on Aug 30, 2020, 12:36:52 PM

Quote from: Enjoy on Aug 30, 2020, 05:38:28 AM
Waking up prey from multiple eras At the same time would be fun.
A nazi with a cowboy and a ninja and so forth

Ooh, that's not a bad idea. I love that idea, reminds of a story I had in mind about people from different time periods being forced to fight each other. Though I think that might've been done, I think I saw it somewhere, but it would be an interesting element for Predator.

I think you're referring to Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 3, Episode 22 "The Savage Curtain"
Air date: March 7, 1969
"Aliens force Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock to join forces with beings who appear to be Abraham Lincoln and Surak to battle villains in a contest between good and evil."

Quote from: SpaceKase on Aug 30, 2020, 01:35:18 PM

Quote from: Number13 on Aug 30, 2020, 12:36:52 PM

Quote from: Enjoy on Aug 30, 2020, 05:38:28 AM
Waking up prey from multiple eras At the same time would be fun.
A nazi with a cowboy and a ninja and so forth

Ooh, that's not a bad idea. I love that idea, reminds of a story I had in mind about people from different time periods being forced to fight each other. Though I think that might've been done, I think I saw it somewhere, but it would be an interesting element for Predator.

I think you're referring to Star Trek: The Original Series: Season 3, Episode 22 "The Savage Curtain"
Air date: March 7, 1969
"Aliens force Captain Kirk and First Officer Spock to join forces with beings who appear to be Abraham Lincoln and Surak to battle villains in a contest between good and evil."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXY7DEr3cl8

Never seen the original Star Trek, need to though. I think what I was thinking of was some kind of board game. I have this vague memory of a commercial of a cartoon showing a World War II soldier being teleported before a grenade drops on him and explodes, and a ninja being teleported from his era as well.

Quote from: Enjoy on Aug 30, 2020, 05:38:28 AM
Waking up prey from multiple eras At the same time would be fun.
A nazi with a cowboy and a ninja and so forth

That would give away the ending twist wouldn't it?

Like I said, I had a similar premise, where new people are dropped on the planet and Isabelle tries to help them survive and she lost track fo Royce a long time ago. Then Royce comes out of nowhere, he's still kinda a jerk, he was using them to bait the Predators and Isabelle compares him to Noland which he is really offended by. They later discover there's a fourth Predator on the planet, hunting the Super Predators who has a score to settle with them. He's actually based on the Ghost Predator Neca created. So the characters form an alliance with Ghost, they help him kill the Super Predators, he'll take them home. But there's also a criminal in the group who is a real bad guy, and Isabelle doesn't think he should go back to Earth and they plot against him, but he's onto them and plots against them. Hence the title of my story, "Predators: Enemy of My Enemy."

Soon after watching Predators, I thought about situation where SuperPredator Elder comes to Game Preserve right after Predators(we seen new prey falling from the sky - he is the one dropping them) and realizes trio of his apprentices are dead. He was training them and testing and now is really pissed about the situation. He comes down to Preserve Planet and starts hunt of his own, while being aided by his pets - two Comodo-like big lizard monsters ( I know, I know The Predator had similar but, believe or not, I thought about it in 2010), that are sapient and quite intelligent with natural chameleon-like ability to camouflage. Meanwhile Royce quickly gathers new earth based crew and brings them up to speed with current situation.  He must form a plan to outsmart new Predator and stole his ship as well as keep badly wounded Isabelle save.

Hi community!
here is something, that would make the long timspan possible (taken from interstellar).
"The first planet they land on is close to a supermassive black hole, dubbed Gargantuan, whose gravitational pull causes massive waves on the planet that toss their spacecraft about. Its proximity to the black hole also causes an extreme time dilation, where one hour on the distant planet equals 7 years on Earth"

some good ideas our there can't wait for the podcast

Quote from: Stefano on Aug 30, 2020, 07:33:03 PM
Hi community!
here is something, that would make the long timspan possible (taken from interstellar).
"The first planet they land on is close to a supermassive black hole, dubbed Gargantuan, whose gravitational pull causes massive waves on the planet that toss their spacecraft about. Its proximity to the black hole also causes an extreme time dilation, where one hour on the distant planet equals 7 years on Earth"

That's a pretty awesome idea, Stefano. With the exception of Tim Lebbon's Rage War trilogy, most of the franchises stay away from the real world interconnection between Space and Time and the bizarre quantum and time dialative effects of pushing and theoretically traversing the speed of light. Interstellar was a beautiful marriage of drama and science that has put these ideas right back into the public eye. Given the Lovecraftian roots of Alien in particular I would be eager and excited for more exploration of this real science weirdness and how that could play into future stories.

Sounds way clever than a fake premise before the release of Prometheus, with the creation of life on ancient Earth at the start. Then the crew discovering that LV-223 was actually ancient Earth. The Prometheus had gone through a wormhole following the archaeological clues. Short story, the Engineers transformed Vickers into a protoqueen and David became the goo that the Engineers used to create life on Earth in the beginning. The fanfiction piece ends with Shaw, back on modern Earth, spending the rest of her days in a madhouse. The Space Jockey crashing into LV-426, in prehistoric times, after suffering an accident while chasing Shaw into the wormhole, who was using an Engineer ship to return to modern Earth.

Edit: I know that wormholes are not the same as black holes  😶

That's okay, Star Trek writers made that mistake several times.

"Super Predators" confirmed!
Hybridization confirmed!

Evades a rock thrown by Hicks

I never had a problem with Predators enhancing their own bodies to get an edge, as long as not all Predators do it (which Shane Black confirmed). We see human competitors do it all the time with steroids and hgh, horse placenta, deer antler spray, urine, etc. And this edge upgrading can be socially lambasted as it is on Earth.

And all these nuggets help support my ol' speculation that Super Predators and the Upgrade is from the same blasphemous clan. Both use single blade guantlets, both use dogs to hunt, both use genetic manipulation, etc  etc.

Interesting to hear Predators taking place in the future from a source other than Shane Black!

Great stuff Hicks & RT!

Quote from: Voodoo Magic on Aug 31, 2020, 12:05:02 PM
"Super Predators" confirmed!
Hybridization confirmed!

Evades a rock thrown by Hicks

I never had a problem with Predators enhancing their own bodies to get an edge, as long as not all Predators do it (which Shane Black confirmed). We see human competitors do it all the time with steroids and hgh, horse placenta, deer antler spray, urine, etc. And this edge upgrading can be socially lambasted as it is on Earth.

And all these nuggets help support my ol' speculation that Super Predators and the Upgrade is from the same blasphemous clan. Both use single blade guantlets, both use dogs to hunt, both use genetic manipulation, etc  etc.

Having the mutations come from the same clan is a better outlook.  I did enjoy Predators as a fun slasher film and look forward to seeing what's in store for us with a sequel.  I am even hoping for a Dutch cameo  ;D

Quote from: AliceApocalypse on Aug 31, 2020, 02:28:14 PM
Having the mutations come from the same clan is a better outlook.  I did enjoy Predators as a fun slasher film and look forward to seeing what's in store for us with a sequel.  I am even hoping for a Dutch cameo  ;D

This made me realize that the casual fans and general public have no idea of the new Dutch lore from Hunting Grounds and how surprised they will be looking at a +300 year old Dutch with Colonial Marines at his side by the end of the movie. They gotta nail explaining that if the producers want to do the future ending.

Which reminds me, what is the extent of his new abilities anyway? I know that his youth in terms of ability but not in appearance has returned and no longer ages. I recall that Dutch even says that he has that and more, so does that mean he is like a Captain America but Predator Hunter?

Quote from: Mr.Turok on Aug 31, 2020, 03:10:28 PM

Quote from: AliceApocalypse on Aug 31, 2020, 02:28:14 PM
Having the mutations come from the same clan is a better outlook.  I did enjoy Predators as a fun slasher film and look forward to seeing what's in store for us with a sequel.  I am even hoping for a Dutch cameo  ;D

This made me realize that the casual fans and general public have no idea of the new Dutch lore from Hunting Grounds and how surprised they will be looking at a +300 year old Dutch with Colonial Marines at his side by the end of the movie. They gotta nail explaining that if the producers want to do the future ending.

A little more than a casual fan/general public, just not a gamer  :P

I really would have loved to see these ideas be put on the big screen. There were fresh and unexpected. I especially liked how expectations would have been subverted with the time jump 300 years into the future.

I'm not sure this is what I would like. I'm in favour of smaller, slow burning and  more down to earth ( ;D) Predator stories.

Quote from: Master on Sep 03, 2020, 06:31:39 AM
I'm not sure this is what I would like. I'm in favour of smaller, slow burning and  more down to earth ( ;D) Predator stories.

Overall, me too! And the Predator Hunters comic series reaffirmed my faith in these type of Predator stories.

Predators was not good. The Predator was not good.

I expect this too will be garbage.

Goodbye then  ;)

Sounds great but very expensive. Predators was cheap in terms of budget

Right? $52 Million Domestic. $127 Million Total Worldwide. The only reason Predators was a moderate success was its low $40 Million budget. I just can't see a studio greenlighting a sequel with 2.5 x the budget likely necessary to achieve "Die Hard on a Predator Ship". I love the concept, but in a writer's shoes, I would never personally approach a potential sequel that way. A brand new Predator film, yes, but not a Predators sequel.

Shane Black was probably aware of these plans.

When asked about Predators he said something about it "taking place sometime after" his film.

Cheeky.

Anyway, this "reveal" would have benefited Predators a tiny bit, instead of the limp way that the movie ends on.