Without a third season of Netflix’s FUBAR on the way, the biggest upcoming project on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s plate seems to be the upcoming 2026 release The Man with the Bag opposite fellow action star Alan Ritchson. Which means he’s definitely got time to bleed for a return to the Predator franchise, right? (I know that was Jesse Ventura’s line, but work with me here.) The former Cali governor has offered up an extremely positive update about Dutch’s return, as well as unexpected news about two other long-desired sequels.
It wasn’t Christmas weekend that provided these gifts, but rather the annual Arnold Sports Festival held in Columbus, Ohio, where thousands of attendees and vendors highlight the cutting edge in sports equipment, apparel and nutrition alongside a variety of competitions and exhibitions. Thanks to TheArnoldFans, we now know that Schwarzenegger has confirmed a shared desire to return for a live-action Predator movie with director Dan Trachtenberg, after his likeness was used in the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers. In his words:
They did an additional Predator and the director (Dan Trachtenberg) has been doing a great job of that. Now, he wants me to be in the next Predator. We’ve talked about it.
The actor shared that 20th Century Fox has also reached out to him regarding a new Predator project, saying they’re interested in his involvement. It makes complete sense across the board, of course. Trachtenberg has pulled off the incredibly rare feat of injecting new life into a struggling sci-fi property, with a trio of projects that have won over critics and audiences alike, while also being measurable successes across streaming and box office. Predator: Badlands didn’t even have humans and still captivated fans.
That might count as a spot of evidence speaking against Schwarzenegger’s return as Dutch, but I don’t think that Badlands’ success means there’s zero room for organic humanoids in this universe. It just has to be handled intelligently enough, which thankfully seems to be Dan Trachtenberg’s only mode of operation.
That’s definitely not the only long-hoped-for return that Arnold Schwarzenegger could be making in the near future, however….
Commando 2 Is Apparently Back On
One of the most action-movie movies to ever action-movie, Mark L. Lester’s Commando is an absolute classic that helped cement Arnold as an action star outside of the sci-fi and fantasy genres that first made him a household name. After its initial success in 1985, a sequel was written with the hopes of getting the lead actor back as John Matrix, but he’d declined the offer, presumably due to a zillion other offers also piling up.
Decades later, in 2010 or so, Suicide Squad director David Ayer was attached to helm a reboot that never surfaced, and only a few years ago, it was briefly reported that Schwarzenegger was attached to a sequel allegedly titled Commando: Retribution, but without any additional updates.
Now, John Matrix’s return doesn’t sound that hyperbolic, as the actor also shared this during the Arnold Sports Festival:
As a matter of fact, FOX Studios has kind of rediscovered ‘Arnold.’ They’ve come to me and said, ‘We want you to do Predator, we just got a script for you to do Commando 2.’
No word on who might have written that script, or whether or not it would officially go with the “2” in the title rather than some kind of vaguely worded subtitle. Or anything else, really. But it turns out we don’t actually need any further information to be extremely jazzed by this update. If it came from anywhere else but the horse’s mouth, I’d be more inclined to be wary, but if Schwarzenegger is talking about it, it vastly increases all chances of existing.
AND Another Conan The Barbarian Movie?
Another surprise reveal ties into the legendary character of Conan the Barbarian, with Arnold Schwarzenegger sharing that he could be making his long-awaited return to that universe as well. He was initially supposed to have starred as Conan for a third movie after Conan the Destroyer‘s release, per contractual obligations, but plans fell through. He was later courted to reprise the role following Jason Momoa‘s meh 2011 approach, for a project dubbed The Legend of Conan, but after years of stalled development, the project was dropped.
Schwarzenegger claims a huge Hollywood creative force was given the reins to create King Conan, presumably based in part on Robert E. Howard’s short story collection centering on an older Conan. Here’s what he had to say:
They just hired a fantastic writer/director who did Tom Cruise’s last four movies. They just hired him (Christopher McQuarrie) to write and direct King Conan. . . . Now, what they do is that they write the part. They don’t write them like i’m forty years old, you write it to be age-appropriate. I’ll still go in there and kick some a– but it will be different.
Though one might assume that Arnold’s return for King Conan would be relegated only to wraparound flashback scenes focusing on his younger days, but it sounds like the actor still plans on taking part in the action in one way or another. I’m kind of in awe.
This combination of updates is almost too good to be true, so here’s hoping he wasn’t speaking out of school, and that all of his comments are 100% accurate.
After only appearing in 2025’s Running Man reboot via visual easter egg, Arnold Schwarzenegger is seemingly confirmed to NOT appear in the next Terminator movie being cooked up by James Cameron, so that’s one to put aside for now. I guess we’ll have to wait to hear if a Last-For-Real Action Hero is in the planning stages.