It’s been decades since Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer first went toe-to-toe with a Predator in the jungles of Central America. And yet, here we are, still wondering if Arnold Schwarzenegger might return to the franchise that turned him into an alien-hunting legend.

With the release of Predator: Killer of Killers, the door cracked open just enough to make fans ask: what if Dutch came back? Could Arnold reprise the role in some form? And if so, where would he even fit in the ever-expanding timeline?

Why an Animated Return Makes Sense

Let’s be honest. At 77 years old, it’s a stretch to expect Arnold to be jumping through jungles and brawling with invisible alien killers. But voice work? Totally doable. And Arnold already has returned to the role, at least with his voice, in the Predator: Hunting Grounds game, where he narrated a series of in-universe tapes as Dutch.

Those audio logs tell us a lot. We get tons of great info about what Dutch has been up to. This, in turn, helps us explore how the franchise could squeeze him back into the timeline without breaking canon. And if the folks behind Killer of Killers are smart, they’ll use those gaps to bring him back, possibly in an animated sequel.

Pinning Down the Timeline: When Was Predator Set?

Dutch’s Canon Story (So Far)

Thanks to Hunting Grounds, we’ve got a breadcrumb trail of Dutch’s life after 1987. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Sept 12, 1987: Dutch talks about radiation sickness from the Predator’s self-destruct and returns to South America to investigate.
• April 8, 1991: Still dealing with radiation issues. He’s back in Val Verde.
• June 27, 1992: Meets Agent Peter Keyes again. Still sick, lost a lot of weight, but still hunting.
• March 3, 1996: Or maybe 2008? This one’s fuzzy. He forms a new team and takes down a Predator, but the whole team dies. He goes off-grid.
• Oct 12, 1997: Dutch returns with proof of alien life, just in time to miss the events of Predator 2. Gets captured and interrogated by O.W.L.F. Ends up working with them.
• March 3, 2008: Now a seasoned hunter. Fights a female Predator in Laos. She captures him in a net but spares his life. First failed mission.
• Jan 13, 2019 (possibly meant to be 2018): Project Stargazer is active. Another Predator is captured in Mexico.
• 2025: Dutch is 77. Still hunting. And thanks to Predator medical tech, he feels stronger than he did in his 40s.

Yep. Dutch is basically the Predator-hunting version of Wolverine now.

Where Could a New Story Fit?

That’s prime real estate for new stories. You could easily set an animated film during one of these missing years and show Dutch facing off against more Yautja. Or maybe something worse. Maybe we finally see that full showdown with the female Predator. Or maybe he gets abducted and dropped on the Predator homeworld like in Killer of Killers. Fights his way out. Survives. Escapes. And the story picks up somewhere in between the timeline of Hunting Grounds.

What About the Predator Homeworld?

So here’s a twist. If Dutch was taken off Earth during those blank years, there’s one logical destination: Yautja Prime. The Predator homeworld has been shown to be a hot, hostile place. Twin suns, lava flows, dense forests, and very little flora. It’s a hunting paradise or a nightmare, depending on your species.

We know the Yautja thrive in extreme heat. Earth’s hottest jungles? Just warmups. If Dutch ended up there, the stakes would’ve been insane. And the visuals in animation could go full sci-fi with it. Think volcanic wastelands, alien beasts, Predator tribes. A survival story on a planet made to kill.

So Could Arnold Come Back?

Absolutely. Just not in the way fans might first imagine. A new animated sequel could bring Dutch back without risking his knees in a jungle chase. Arnold’s voice, maybe a grizzled and wiser Dutch, could carry a lot of weight. Especially paired with stylized, brutal action.

It would also be a smart nod to the fans who’ve stuck with this franchise since ’87. We’ve heard the tapes. Now let us see them.

Dutch is the one character in the Predator franchise who actually survived, fought back, and kept fighting. He’s become a ghost story in his own right. A guy who just won’t die and keeps taking down monsters that should’ve ended him decades ago.