Did you know, that before Kevin Peter Hall dawned the iconic Predator costume back in 1987, that action movie legend, Jean-Clause Van Damme was the first to portray the intergalactic hunter? It's true! Jean-Claude was originally hired on to play the Predator, (which was then titled 'Hunter') back before the creature itself went under some major redesigns and the film changed its title all together. Originally, the Predator was to be a reptilian/insect-like alien, and look like this:
Many fans of the franchise will recognize this design, especially if they own any of the special edition sets for Predator. But recently, Stan Winston School uploaded a video, where Steve Johnson and Matt Winston discuss the original Predator and the challenges they had faced with it. Watch the interview below:
Here are some more images of the "original Predator":
... And here are some shots of Van Damme actually in the Predator costume, on-set:
Turns out, Van Damme quit the project after only two days of filming. As much as I like Van Damme, it seems he made the right choice. What do you think? Are you glad they scrapped this design in favor of what we now know today to be the Predator? Let us know by commenting below!
Sources: Stan Winston School, CBM, Movie-Moron
Alien vs. Predator 3 – What We Know So Far
Officially, Alien vs. Predator 3 remains in concept phase for the time being. A reboot of the iconic crossover has been discussed on numerous occasions, with chatter picking up heavily from 20th Century Studios back in the Fall of 2024 after the successful release of Fede Alvarez's Alien: Romulus. The blending of Alien and Predator cinematic universes was further solidified in 2025 with Dan Trachtenberg's Predator: Badlands. The two movie monsters continue to coexist in the same timeline, but their conflict has not yet been realized since 2007. A reboot of Alien vs. Predator would likely ret-con the existing 2 entries and establish a completely new AvP timeline. For more on what we know so far, continue reading our more in-depth breakdown here. As new developments are made, that page will be updated.
This article follows our editorial guidelines for accuracy and canon consistency.
