Predator Cast and Crew: Every Actor and Director by Film

Each Predator film stars a largely new ensemble, led by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator (1987) and Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands (2025), and the creature suit performer is the nearest thing to a constant. Predator (1987), directed by John McTiernan, has Schwarzenegger as Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer. Carl Weathers plays Al Dillon, Kevin Peter Hall plays The Predator, Elpidia Carrillo plays Anna, Bill Duke plays Mac Eliot, Jesse Ventura plays Blain Cooper, Sonny Landham plays Billy Sole, Richard Chaves plays Jorge 'Poncho' Ramirez and R.G. Armstrong plays Major General Homer Phillips. Shane Black appears as Rick Hawkins, and he went on to direct The Predator (2018). Peter Cullen provides the creature's voice, uncredited.

Who plays the creature in Predator (1987)? In the first two films it is Kevin Peter Hall. In Predators the work is split among three performers, with Derek Mears as the Classic Predator, Brian Steele as the Berserker and Falconer, and Carey Jones as the Tracker. Dane DiLiegro wears the suit in Prey (2022), and Den of Geek reports he stands 6 ft 9. In Badlands the lead is a Yautja himself, Dek, played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. For more on the species, see the Yautja page.

The female leads have grown in prominence over the series. Elpidia Carrillo is Anna in 1987, María Conchita Alonso is Leona Cantrell in Predator 2, Sanaa Lathan is Alexa Woods in AVP, Alice Braga is Isabelle in Predators, Olivia Munn is Casey Brackett in The Predator, Amber Midthunder is Naru in Prey, and Elle Fanning plays both Thia and Tessa in Badlands. Lance Henriksen plays Charles Bishop Weyland in AVP.

Who are the actors in the new Predator movie? The newest release, Badlands, stars Elle Fanning, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Ravi Narayan as Bud, with Alison Wright voicing MU/TH/UR and Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer voicing Kwei's ship computer. If you want to see how the characters fit together, start with the Predator characters page.

Eight directors have worked on the series across nine films, and Dan Trachtenberg is the only one with more than one credit. John McTiernan directed Predator (1987), Stephen Hopkins directed Predator 2 (1990), Paul W. S. Anderson directed AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), and brothers Colin Strause and Greg Strause directed Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007). Nimród Antal directed Predators (2010), and Shane Black directed The Predator (2018).

Trachtenberg directed Prey (2022), Predator: Killer of Killers (2025) and Predator: Badlands (2025). That gives him three of the nine films, all released since 2022. Producer John Davis told Variety about the franchise's origins and how the creature needed to be taller than first imagined. Gizmodo reported in September 2026 that Trachtenberg is stepping away from Predator for an untitled Sleeping Beauty inspired project at Disney, and that reporting gives no status or date for another Predator film.

The scores also change hands often. Alan Silvestri composed both Predator (1987) and Predator 2. Harald Kloser scored AVP, Brian Tyler scored Requiem, John Debney scored Predators and Henry Jackman scored The Predator. Sarah Schachner composed Prey and Badlands, and Benjamin Wallfisch scored Killer of Killers. For track details, see the Predator soundtrack page, and for how the films stack up, see Predator movies ranked.

On the production side, Variety notes that Requiem was the Strause brothers' feature debut after their work at the effects house Hydraulx. The Predator (2018) premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and AP reported that a scene was cut hours before that premiere because of an actor's background.

Very few actors return in this series, and most of the overlap is in the creature suit. Kevin Peter Hall plays The Predator in both Predator (1987) and Predator 2, Ian Whyte plays Scar in AVP and a Predator in Requiem, and Louis Ozawa moves from Hanzo in Predators to Kenji and Kiyoshi in Killer of Killers. Elpidia Carrillo plays Anna in 1987 and returns in Predator 2, and Henry Kingi appears in both films as well, uncredited in the first and as El Scorpio in the second. Alan Silvestri scored both early films, and Sarah Schachner scored both Prey (2022) and Badlands.

Is Jean-Claude Van Damme in Predator (1987)? He is not in the finished film, though the question comes up often. The Hollywood Reporter has published an oral history of Predator and a separate piece on why he left, and the accounts of his departure differ. Its oral history also covers the swap to a taller suit performer, and Kevin Peter Hall is the actor credited in the finished film. The Predator (2018) had its own change: Variety reported in October 2016 that Boyd Holbrook was in talks to replace Benicio del Toro, who had left over scheduling.

Can Arnold Schwarzenegger return? Nothing is confirmed. ComicBook.com wrote in February 2026 that his return, a sequel to Prey (2022), an Alien crossover and a Killer of Killers follow up were all unconfirmed. Jesse Ventura did play in Predator (1987), as Blain Cooper, and he is part of the 1987 ensemble alongside Bill Duke and Sonny Landham.

In my opinion, the strongest casting habit is that the series keeps pairing a recognizable lead with a specialist creature performer, so audiences remember both. It could be argued that the two most distinct ensemble approaches are the 1987 team of muscle bound action stars and the 2010 line up of killers who wake up on another world, with Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, Danny Trejo, Walton Goggins and Mahershala Ali. That being said, the Yautja leads of Badlands may set the pattern for whatever comes next. To see where each cast sits in story order, use the Predator timeline, or check the new Predator movie page for the latest on a next film.