FILM · 1990 · USA
Predator 2
33 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (33)
- #001
After directing A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child (1989), which greatly impressed the studio, Stephen Hopkins was hired to direct Predator 2 (1990). He was given only four weeks to shoot and four weeks to edit the film, and he also oversaw the special effects work. This meant that while the crew was dressing the other Predator, Hopkins had to shoot a scene himself, which allowed them to film almost continuously. Hopkins said he managed this because he was 28 years old at the time and needed very little sleep.
- #002
The Jamaican voodoo gangs seen in the film were based on real gangs that terrorized New York City and Kansas City from the mid-to-late 1980s. The Jamaicans were played not by actors or stuntmen but by real-life enforcers, because, as director Stephen Hopkins put it, they had to be physically intimidating and die "fantastically horribly."
- #003
The film's ending, in which a Xenomorph skull from Alien (1979) appears in the trophy case on the Predator ship, established as canon for the first time in the history of both franchises that Xenomorphs and Predators coexist in the same cinematic universe. Including the Xenomorph skull in the ending was the idea of director Stephen Hopkins after he saw it hanging in Stan Winston's special effects shop (a leftover prop from Aliens (1986)), and he felt it was the perfect way to display all the different species and creatures the Predators hunt and kill. It was also a nod to the Dark Horse Aliens vs. Predator comics, which were quite popular at the time. Since 20th Century Fox owned both the Predator and Alien franchises, securing the rights to use the Xenomorph head in the film was easy, even though the studio initially feared the scene would be too distracting. The film's ending accelerated the popularity of Aliens vs. Predator; the Predator series crossed over throughout the 1990s, followed immediately by more comics, novels, video games, toys and eventually films.
- #004
In the finale, when the Elder Predator gives Danny Glover the gun dating from 1715, Jim Thomas and John Thomas had devised an idea for a possible Predator film set in the past, where no modern weapons existed to fight them, much like the finale of the original Predator (1987). Although the sequels Predators (2010) and The Predator (2018) were set in the future, several short fan films set in the distant past were actually made, such as Predator Dark Ages (2015) (set during the Crusades) and Predator: Celtic Days (2017), which explain the gun's possible origin. As of 2022, the prequel Prey (2022) explains the pistol's origin.
- #005
The film's original story was to be set in New York, but Jim Thomas and John Thomas quickly changed the setting to Los Angeles due to budget concerns. The scene in which the Predator raises the skull during the lightning storm was to take place atop the Chrysler Building.
- #006
The spear weapon used in the film disappeared after shooting was completed and was reported stolen.
- #007
Keyes learned that Dutch, the hero of the first film, had encountered the Predator and tracked him to a hospital, where Dutch was being treated for radiation sickness believed to be the result of exposure to the Predator's self-destruct device. After hearing Dutch's account of the events, Keyes and the O. W. L. F. team were sent into the jungle to investigate and examined the spot where the Predator detonated its device. They found evidence in the jungle of a spacecraft launch, and the dead Predator's ship had automatically returned to the Predator homeworld. Dutch later escaped from the hospital and disappeared, and Keyes believed he was still alive.
- #008
Kevin Peter Hall studied African tribal dances to capture the Predator's feel and agility and to give it a personality.
- #009
Respirators were needed during the slaughterhouse scene because of the debris and chemicals filling the set.
- #010
Some of the Predator's sounds were recycled from Tremors (1990).
- #011
Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down Predator 2 (1990) over a pay dispute. According to producer John Davis, the studio refused to pay him an additional $250,000. The director later stated, however, that Schwarzenegger could not commit because of scheduling conflicts.
- #012
John McTiernan's fee after Die Hard (1988) was $2 million, so he refused to direct this film because the executives wanted to keep the budget the same as the first film's.
- #013
According to screenwriters Jim Thomas and John Thomas, a Predator sequel was not planned and they had to wait to see how successful the Predator comic book series would be. After the series proved successful, producer Joel Silver was finally able to convince Fox to make the sequel, and it was greenlit immediately.
- #014
The subway attack scene was adapted directly from the first Predator comic book series. The producers thought it was great and wanted to use it in the film.
- #015
Rubén Blades was giving a live television interview for Good Morning America (1975) from the set of this film. Director Stephen Hopkins was unaware of this during the interview and thought Blades had halted production, so he stepped in front of the camera and very loudly ordered Blades to get back to work. The incident was so embarrassing that Blades and Hopkins did another interview a few days later to apologize. The show has since stopped doing live interviews.
- #016
With more pre-production time than the original Predator (1987), Stan Winston, Stephen Hopkins and Lawrence G. Paull came up with ideas and designs for more exotic weapons the Predator could use, such as a retractable spear, detachable pincers, the Smart Disc and a net, to make this film different from the previous one. Nearly twice as many weapons were designed compared to the original film (including a kind of jetpack), but only the weapons the team thought had a good chance of being used in the story and were affordable to produce appear in the film.
- #017
In the scene where King Willie meets his death at the Predator's hands in the alley, wind and water fans were used to simulate the Predator walking on water, and it is finally seen because its image is reflected in the water in a single quick shot.
- #018
The short scene with the hunting party was the most expensive scene to shoot in the entire film. Stan Winston's effects team had to design nine additional, unique Predator costumes for only a few minutes of screen time.
- #019
In 2020, Stephen Hopkins revealed that he had met with Steven Seagal for the film's lead role. Seagal wanted to play a CIA psychiatrist who knew martial arts. Hopkins stopped considering him because he wanted the character to be an "average Joe" type. Hopkins had also envisioned Patrick Swayze playing the role.
- #020
According to director Stephen Hopkins, the film was recut and submitted for rating more than 17 times because of its more graphic shots showing the Predator's dismembered bodies, nudity and decapitations. The film was initially given an NC-17 rating, and there was a brief discussion about keeping it that way, but it was ultimately believed this would hurt box office revenue (since NC-17 films were barred from newspaper advertising and from being shown in certain theaters). By cutting the explicit shots (mostly removing somewhere between 6 and 12 frames), they were able to obtain the desired R rating. Hopkins said not all the scenes had to be cut because of violence, only because of pacing issues.
- #021
The antique flintlock pistol one of the Predators gives Harrigan at the end bears the inscription "Raphael Adolini 1715." A later Dark Horse comic tells this character's story and turns him into a pirate who disappeared with his crew in the Bermuda Triangle in 1718. It was also the subject of a potential sequel script written in the mid-90s that went unused when 20th Century Fox decided to move forward with the time-spanning Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Predator sequels.
- #022
Elpidia Carrillo, who played Anna in the first film, is named in the sequel's credits but does not appear to be in the film. Look carefully at the scene in Peter Keyes's mobile headquarters, and you will spot her. When Keyes (Gary Busey) explains how the creature activated a self-destruct device in "Predator (1987)," Anna can briefly be seen on one of the video screens. Carrillo filmed a briefing scene in which she spoke to camera and recounted the events of the first film, but it was cut from this sequel.
- #023
According to director Stephen Hopkins, the slaughterhouse scene was inspired by the similar scene in Aliens (1986) in which the marines enter the Alien nest in the basement of the atmosphere processor. It was shot in an old warehouse in Culver City, took about four days to film, and was extremely difficult because of the amount of water used, the constant dust in the air, the different perspectives from which the film would be shot and the lighting of the sequence. Crew members had to wear dust masks at all times, and the stuntman playing the Predator had to be hung on wires to choreograph his fight moves.
- #024
The Sergeant (Steve Kahan) whom Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) briefly speaks to at the start of the film also played his boss (Captain Murphy) in all four Lethal Weapon films.
- #025
The following scenes were deleted from the film's final cut: a subplot involving Leona's (Maria Conchita Alonso) pregnancy. The chase scene in which Danny Glover follows the Predator to the slaughterhouse area was much longer. All of the Predator's killings, including Bill Paxton's murder in the tunnel, featured blood and mutilation.
- #026
Stan Winston's team created several extraterrestrial skulls for the Predator's trophy room. Most of the unnamed alien species came from the imaginations of the SWS artists. However, as a fun nod to the Dark Horse comic Alien vs Predator, John Rosengrant and Shane Mahan decided to add an Alien Warrior skull to the Predator's trophy case. The skull was made by Kevin Hudson and was later reported stolen.
- #027
When the Predator is shot by Danny Glover in the slaughterhouse scene, Kevin Peter Hall's body was fitted with blood packs filled with a glowing fluid from a "glow stick" mixed with K-Y jelly to create bright green blood.
- #028
King Willie (Calvin Lockhart) is said to practice Voodoo, but Voodoo is not widely practiced in Jamaica and actually originates from Haiti. King Willie is more of a Rastafarian, a religion common in Jamaica, which may explain his dreadlocks and the fact that he calls Harrigan "Babylon" (a Rastafarian term for the justice system they see as oppressive and corrupt).
- #029
This was the first film to be given the newly created NC-17 rating in the United States for sensational violence and nudity before it was recut to its final theatrical length. According to director Stephen Hopkins, the MPAA's problems with the film were mostly political, intended as a statement against the violence in Joel Silver's films.
- #030
According to Gary Busey in an interview, after the events of the first film, Keyes and the C.I.A. were running missions in the jungles where Dutch had been involved, but they had lost Dutch. This explains why Dutch (Schwarzenegger) does not appear in the sequel.
- #031
With this film's release in 1990, Bill Paxton became the first actor to be attacked by a Terminator (in The Terminator (1984)), an Alien (in Aliens (1986)) and a Predator (in Predator 2 (1990)). In 2004, Lance Henriksen became the second actor to achieve this; he appeared in The Terminator, appeared in Aliens and appeared in Alien vs. Predator (2004). As of 2025, Michael Biehn is technically the third actor on this list; he appeared in The Terminator, appeared in Aliens and voiced a character in the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers (2025). However, it cannot be said that all of these characters are necessarily killed in each of the respective films. In The Terminator, Paxton's character was violently shoved into a metal door, and it was not confirmed that he was killed there. In Aliens, he was only shown being dragged away by xenomorphs, possibly to be impregnated by a facehugger (at least, he died in the nuclear explosion that destroyed the facility housing the aliens). And in Predator 2, his character's death is confirmed, since the audience can see his body being carried to the subway station after the Predator's attack. As for Henriksen, in The Terminator he was shot off-screen by the T-800. According to behind-the-scenes script notes for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), his potential death was called into question when an idea emerged that could bring back his paraplegic character, who survived the gunshot wounds in the first film. In Aliens, his character was an android that was severely damaged by the Alien Queen but was not actually disabled or destroyed when it was cut in two. And then in Alien vs. Predator, Henriksen's death is confirmed, caused by a Predator creature stabbing him through the chest. As for Biehn, he was killed by a pipe bomb explosion while trying to escape from the Terminator machine. Later, in Aliens, after he shot an Alien creature at close range, its acid blood sprayed onto him, but he was shown surviving the injury unharmed. And finally, in Killer of Killers, his animated character sacrificed himself in a World War II aerial dogfight scene against a Predator warship, piloting a Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter plane. We can therefore surmise that, of these three actors, only the Predator creatures are confirmed to have killed all three in their respective films, while in all the other films they could (reasonably) have survived.
- #032
Greyback's trophies include a sword, a dog tag and a patch from the United States 2nd Infantry Division on his left arm.
- #033
During the production of Predator 2, the special effects team quickly realized it was impossible to build a prop that could extend from the Combistick's fully retracted position to its fully extended position, since the difference in length between the two was too great. As a result, two prop spears were made — one that could extend the first telescopic section on both sides, and a second in which these sections were already extended and fixed in place and which could then extend the final sections along the weapon's full length. The transition between the two props in the film was masked either by a clever cut or by the spear moving out of frame, so that one of the team could hand the other prop to Kevin Peter Hall (the man playing the Predator) while the Combistick was out of the audience's sight.
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