Arnold Schwarzenegger told Jimmy Kimmel on November 11th, 2026 that he is waiting for the scripts to “Predator”, “Commando 2” and “Conan” before anyone starts shooting. Kimmel asked about all three sequels and the answer was yes. In that exchange Schwarzenegger named no start date, no director and no cast. Headlines since then have called it a confirmation.
That gap is the story. A host asked a movie star whether sequels are in the works and the star said yes, which is not the same as a studio clearing a film to shoot. His own words describe three projects that still depend on scripts he is waiting to see. Warning beyond this point there are spoilers for the ending of “Predator: Killer of Killers” and for an unproduced draft of a “Commando” sequel.
In that exchange Schwarzenegger named no start date, no director and no cast.”
Kimmel raised the sequels near the end of the interview. He named a sequel to “Predator” and a sequel to “Conan”, and “Commando” came up as the third. Schwarzenegger answered “absolutely” and then explained how he works. He said, “I’m looking forward to see the scripts because that’s where the action is.” He added, “What’s not on the page is not on the stage.” Then he gave the plan. He said, “I just wait for the scripts to get perfected and then we go and start shooting those things.”
That is a process with a fixed order. The scripts get finished, then they get perfected, then cameras roll, and Schwarzenegger put himself at the first step. Nothing in the answer says a “Predator” script exists, and nothing says the “Commando 2” script is the one he wants. A confirmation needs a date or a green light. This answer has neither.
The headline version joins three separate things. The first is a yes to a host. The second is a set of remarks from March. The third is a film with a writer and director attached.
Schwarzenegger was on the show to promote “The Man with the Bag”, which starts streaming on Prime Video on December 2nd, 2026, as Kimmel said in his introduction. The sequels were a side question on a promotional visit and not a studio announcement.
None of this is new. Schwarzenegger described the same projects eight months earlier at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2026. The fan site TheArnoldFans reported his remarks and other outlets carried them. He said “Predator” director Dan Trachtenberg “has been doing a great job” and “wants me to be in the next” film. He added, “We’ve talked about it.” He said Fox had come to him and told him it “just got a script” for “Commando 2”. Film Stories noted at the time that no further details of that script were forthcoming, and the Kimmel answer added none.
Conan is the one project with a writer and director attached. In March Schwarzenegger said the studio had hired the writer and director “who did Tom Cruise’s last four movies” for “King Conan”. That is Christopher McQuarrie, who is attached to write and direct at 20th Century Studios. Slashfilm notes that The Hollywood Reporter has since confirmed he is developing the film. Schwarzenegger also said the part would be written for his age. He said, “They don’t write them like I’m forty years old, you write it to be age-appropriate.” By May 2026 the film had a window, and Conan Properties International president Fredrik Malmberg confirmed a deal between the company, Schwarzenegger and the studio, and a production start in 2027. Schwarzenegger told TheArnoldFans the film should play like Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven”, with “extraordinary battles”. He described the king there as someone who “gets a little bit complacent” and is “tired of the job”.
On Kimmel he gave the premise in a few lines. Kimmel asked whether Conan was still a barbarian or had been demoted to “ruffian”. Schwarzenegger said the film would be “King Conan”, “a Conan that is my age” who “has been king for 40 years” and now has people who “want to overthrow him and get rid of him”. At 79 he is clear about the cost of the role. He said, “To do all this action and the sword fighting and horseback riding and all this stuff is not as easy anymore today than it was 40 years ago.”
The “Predator” return rests on an animated scene. Trachtenberg’s film “Predator: Killer of Killers” ends with an epilogue that shows Schwarzenegger’s Dutch asleep in a cold-storage warehouse beside Naru (Amber Midthunder) and Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover), and Schwarzenegger approved the use of his likeness. In July 2025 Trachtenberg said they had talked about what they could make together and that he planned to “cook up” more for the character. Outside that wordless cameo Schwarzenegger has not been in a “Predator” film since the 1987 original. Space.com guessed that a follow-up would be animated, since Dutch barely looks older than he did then, but would not rule out live action. Neither the March remarks nor the Kimmel answer says which it will be.
Trachtenberg has also said an early draft of “Predator: Badlands” included a Dutch cameo. Dread Central adds that Schwarzenegger turned down a part in Shane Black’s “The Predator” and later voiced Dutch in the video game “Predator: Hunting Grounds”. Dutch has come close to a return before.
The “Commando” sequel has a paper trail that goes back to the 1980s. A sequel was written in the late 1980s and Schwarzenegger declined it. Film Stories revisited an unproduced draft dated February 6th, 1989, written by Steven E. de Souza with revisions credited to Frank Darabont. It runs 125 pages and opens on the last exchange of the 1985 film, where Schwarzenegger’s John Matrix turns down General Kirby, then turns him down again when Kirby returns with a new offer. In the draft Kirby’s unit is wiped out in Costa Rica by a drug kingpin. Racked by guilt, Matrix takes a security job with a private contractor. Film Stories notes that 1990 brought “Total Recall” and “Kindergarten Cop” and 1991 brought “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, which left little room for another Matrix film. Fox announced a remake with director David Ayer around 2010 and nothing came of it.
“King Conan” has missed before too. An attempt in the 2000s had John Milius set to direct and the Wachowskis briefly attached to produce, and it did not get made. Dark Horizons, citing TheArnoldFans, prints a May quote saying Milius, who directed the first film, should be “maybe the producer.” Wikipedia’s entry on “Conan the Destroyer” records an older miss, a third film titled “Conan the Conqueror” planned for 1987. The entry says Schwarzenegger was committed to “Predator”, and the script was later reworked into “Kull the Conqueror”. This time “King Conan” is the one with a start window.
Here is where things stand. One of the three has a writer and director attached and a production window, while the other two have talks, a script mention and no start date. The Kimmel answer says the next step for all three is a finished script. Until one arrives for “Predator” or “Commando 2”, expect more answers like this one. If “King Conan” shoots in 2027, it will show whether a studio announcement is worth more than an interview line. For now Schwarzenegger is not saying a start is set. He is saying he wants better pages. The headlines are a step ahead of him.
What Do You Think? Does a yes to a host count as a confirmation? Which of the three should get a finished script first? And should Dutch come back in live action or stay animated?
See you on the next binge!
