Arnold Schwarzenegger opens the door to new Predator and Commando movies — on one condition

You wouldn't think Arnold Schwarzenegger, at 79, would be lining up for more franchise fare, but apparently, he's not done swinging swords or taking on extraterrestrial hunters just yet. Schwarzenegger's post-governor career has been a mixed bag – a bit of drama here (Maggie, anyone remember that?), some moderately desperate attempts to revive Terminator, and the odd team-up with Sylvester Stallone in those Expendables films that never quite knew when to stop. Now, as he hits the circuit promoting his festive comedy The Man with the Bag (out on Prime Video, 2 December 2026), Arnie's teasing possible comebacks to some old classics.

Predator, Conan, and a dash of Commando

On his latest lap on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Schwarzenegger was grilled about what's next. Kimmel pushed for updates on sequels to Predator and Conan the Barbarian – and Arnie, ever the crowd-pleaser, threw Commando into the mix. Strangely, this was the first time he's publicly admitted he might be circling a new Predator film, despite decades of rumour-mongering.

Asked about returning to those roles, Schwarzenegger kept things close to the vest, as usual. Here he is, talking to Kimmel about what would get him back fighting monsters, armies, or whatever else:

I'm looking forward to see the scripts, because that's where the action is. You know what's not on the page is not on the stage. So I just wait for the scripts to be perfected and then we go and start shooting those things.

So, the scripts – or more specifically, getting a decent script – is the sticking point. Not that you'd blame him, given the scripts he’s seen for some of those sequels before.

• Predator: Let's be blunt. Studios have been after Arnie to return for ages. He turned down cameos or roles in Predator 2, Predators, and The Predator. The only whiff of his character Dutch making a comeback was in an animated film, Predator: Killer of Killers, where a post-credits scene on Hulu weirdly revealed Dutch on ice on the Predator home world. Producer Ben Rosenblatt has said Arnie had talks with director Dan Trachtenberg, but the trail goes cold there.
• Current state of the franchise: Even though Predator: Badlands pulled in a franchise record $184.5 million worldwide, there's no official word on another film. To make things messier, Dan Trachtenberg signed a deal with Paramount in June 2026, so who knows if he'll still be in the ring here.

Predator: Badlands took $184.5 million globally, the top earner for the entire franchise.

Conan fights on (eventually)

Schwarzenegger was a little more forthcoming on the Conan front. For those not keeping score: he was Conan the Barbarian in the 1982 original, then back for Conan the Destroyer in 1984, and again (sort of) in Red Sonja in 1985. That third Conan film, though? Stuck in limbo since 1997. Universal announced a revival in 2012 – The Legend of Conan – which was going to ignore Destroyer completely, but it went nowhere and got binned by 2017.

Breath was held, but not for long. In 2026, 20th Century Studios decided to crack on with King Conan, signing up Christopher McQuarrie (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, among about a million other things) as writer-director. Arnie, again on Kimmel, outlined where they're headed for this one:

King Conan is a Conan who is my age and has been king for 40 years. He has become somewhat complacent so they want to overthrown him and get rid of him.

Not exactly a shock that they've chosen to lean into Schwarzenegger's age rather than ignore it, and honestly, that's probably the only way forward for a character who's been fighting and sulking since the early '80s.