Shane Black reveals lead character in The Predator

Shane Black – writer, director, occasional purveyor of filthy jokes – took to the stage of a London cinema last night for an Empire Podcast-organised Q&A. as part of his press tour for The Nice Guys. During a very funny and fascinating hour-long chat alongside longtime producer Joel Silver, the filmmaker dropped new hints about his next project: the latest in the Predator franchise, simply entitled The Predator, which he has described as an “inventive sequel”.

When first asked about the film, Black was jokingly reticent (“At this point we’re thinking we’ll project on a screen... it’ll be in colour...”) but went on to explain his approach. “It’s an attempt to ‘event-ise’ the Predator again,” Black said. “[An attempt to] make it more mysterious. The Predator has been so overdone. Every couple of years, there's a knock-off churned out. Very low budget with a guaranteed return.”

Black continued by saying he hoped to achieve “the same sense of wonderment and newness that Close Encounters had when that came out. That's what we want. It's very impossible. But we're gonna try." He also spoke of keeping the relatively intimate scale of the original film: “It doesn't have to be 50 Predators riding motorcycles. It just has to feel like a powerful story that has a lot of flavours and textures.”

Understandably, Black kept most of his cards close to his chest. But did reveal one tantalising detail: “The hero of the film, the name I've given the guy, is Quinn McKenna.” Quinn McKenna. Rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?

That could change, Black said, given that the film is still in early stages of pre-production, and nobody has been cast yet (though original star Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he’d open to returning). We have a little way to wait yet: The Predator currently has a release date of March 2, 2018.

In the meantime, keep your eyes and ears peeled for the full Q&A with Shane Black and Joel Silver, which will be posted as an hour-long Empire Podcast in the next few days. Subscribe via our iTunes page, or keep a peeper on our SoundCloud page.