Who's Your Daddy: 'The Predator' Star Confirms Major Links To The Original Franchise

Prepare to be hunted, because Shane Black's The Predator is coming for you. Part reboot, part sequel, the dreadlocked dangers are back on our screens for the first standalone film since 2010's Predators. While we aren't expecting Arnold Schwarzenegger to pilot a helicopter in for the film's finale and bellow his infamous "choppa" line, it sounds like #ShaneBlack is at least taking the previous films into account.

As well as briefly appearing as Hawkins in the action-packed original film, Black confirmed that next year's film will be a "loose" reboot of the series, but will technically will be the fourth #Predator movie — sorry AvP and Requiem. We have already seen Black's cast in action, but now we also just found out some rather interesting news in regard to Jake Busey's character. Suiting up next to the likes of #BoydHolbrook, #ThomasJane, and #OliviaMunn, Busey isn't exactly the most famous member of the cast, but did he nab the role for a very specific reason?

Daddy Issues

Speaking to The Red Booth, Busey revealed a huge connection to 1990's Predator 2:

"[Shane Black] called me and he said ‘Hey, you wanna do this movie? We don’t have money for you but it’ll be a fun thing to come play and be your father’s son.’ And so as much as I have followed in my Dad’s footsteps career-wise, this is like really following in his footsteps by playing a character who is the son of the character he played."

For those who don't know, Gary Busey starred in the second Predator film under director Stephen Hopkins. Away from the lush jungle foliage, the sequel took our bounty hunter alien into a more urban setting. Alongside Bill Paxton and Danny Glover, Busey Sr. played the nefarious government agent Peter Keyes. Instead of destroying the monster, Keyes was tasked with capturing it for corporate use, a'la Carter Burke in Aliens. Thankfully, Keyes met his maker at the end of Predator 2 and left the movie in a body bag when sliced into two halves, but not before he had sired a child.

Keen to keep it in the family, Jake's previously unnamed character now at least has a surname. However, will it be a case of like father like son and will Busey be playing as big a bastard as Peter Keyes? Interestingly, the younger Busey shared an image from the set on The Predator on May 24, which seemed to show his character in a lab coat. Does this mean we should start referring to him as Dr. Keyes?

Details on the cast are still relatively scarce at the moment, but at least we now officially know that The Predator is set in the same continuity as its predecessors and won't just nod to the older movies with the odd Easter Egg here and there. While we tool up for the sixth time since the character's creation in 1987, here's hoping that Black can bring us a faithful homage to the horror legend and not just another 21st century cash-in that relies on nostalgia to sell tickets. Although Schwarzenegger's intended cameo has apparently been "terminated," who knows, perhaps a little "Dutch" courage could be just what the latest entry needs. After all, Arnie always was famous for saying "I'll be back."

(Source: The Red Booth)