We’ve known that director Dan Trachtenberg of 10 Cloverfield Lane has been at work on another Predator franchise reboot of some kind since the end of 2020, but there’s been little additional information regarding the project until now. Not only does it sound like this new Predator has wrapped filming, but it seems like its title has potentially changed slightly, from Skull to Skulls. According to an Instagram post by cinematographer Jeff Cutter, we also have been given some names of the principal cast members.
Skulls, as we’re assuming the film is indeed now titled, will star actress Amber Midthunder of Legion, along with Dakota Beavers and Dane DiLiegro, who is presumably playing one of the extraterrestrial big game/trophy hunters known as Predators. Midthunder is apparently playing the primary protagonist, but beyond that, we know only that the film supposedly involves “the Predators’ first visit to Earth,” as was stated back at the end of 2020.
This is an interesting route for a Predator reboot, given that the first film release in 1987 presumably took place in the late 1980s, when the alien battled Arnold Schwarzenegger. If this is indeed a story about the “first visit” of this alien race to Earth, then one would think that Skulls would by necessity be a story set in the 1980s or earlier. Perhaps by going that route, we could end up with some Fear Street: 1978 vibes?
What this also no-doubt implies is that Skulls is unlikely to have much of any connection to the events of the 2018 reboot The Predator, which failed to captivate either critics or audiences, and was particularly criticized at the time of release for a dated script from ‘80s icons Shane Black and Fred Dekker. Regardless, we’ll bring you more information on Skulls as it arrives.