Arnold Schwarzenegger Returns to Predator After 38 Years in Shocking Franchise Comeback

The Predator universe just dropped a massive twist at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, and fans are still buzzing. A new extended version of the animated Predator: Killer of Killers was revealed, and it includes a jaw-dropping ending that changes everything.

The big shock? Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch Schaefer is officially back in the franchise for the first time since 1987. And this time, it’s not just a wink to fans, it’s part of the actual story.

The animated film now ends with a slow pan across a cryo chamber filled with captured warriors. In the final shots, viewers see three familiar faces frozen in stasis: Naru from Prey (played by Amber Midthunder), Mike Harrigan from Predator 2 (Danny Glover), and yes, Dutch himself.

It confirms that these characters are alive, but they’ve been taken by the Yautja (aka the Predators) and frozen on their home planet. The franchise just connected decades of stories into one wild new direction.

Director Dan Trachtenberg, who also made Prey, spoke about the new ending. He said he actually sat down with Arnold Schwarzenegger for breakfast to talk through the surprise cameo before finalizing the animation. “Certainly Arnold, like many others, was a survivor of his story, and one could easily imagine him up there in cryo, along with any other Earth champion or champion from other planets,” he told Polygon.

This is the first time Arnold has returned to the Predator series since the original film came out 38 years ago. Danny Glover came back for the second film, but Arnold’s Dutch was always missing from the later stories, until now. Fans have waited a long time, and it looks like their patience finally paid off.

Killer of Killers originally dropped on Hulu as a cool animated anthology, made to keep fans hyped while they wait for the next big live-action movie, Predator: Badlands.

But this series turned out to be more than just filler. With its creative take on the Predator lore and its surprising continuity, it ended up earning the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of any Predator project so far.

The anthology takes us through different time periods, asking “what if?” about the Predators landing on Earth during moments like the Viking age, feudal Japan, and World War II. At first, these stories seemed like standalone tales.

But the ending flips the whole thing. It turns out the Predators weren’t just fighting humans, they were capturing the survivors and freezing them. Think Predator meets Gladiator.

One of the biggest changes comes with Naru, the breakout heroine from Prey. She won her fight and proved herself, but as the post-credits art teased, more ships arrived. Now we know what happened: they came for her. Her strength made her a target, and now she’s in cryo along with the others.

Also spotted in the updated ending is Ethan Slater, who joins the cast as Thomas Godolkin, along with Sean Patrick Thomas, who now has a larger role in the story. And yes, Predator: Killer of Killers is already streaming on Hulu, with the extended ending being added in.

This reveal sets up something much bigger. The frozen warriors feel like pieces on a board, waiting for a future fight. If Arnold’s Dutch is back and part of it, the possibilities are huge. After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a true crossover event that brings together legends from every corner of the Predator universe.

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