Boyd Holbrook Could Replace Benicio Del Toro in Shane Black’s ‘The Predator’

It was only a month ago that it was being reported that Benicio Del Toro was in talks to star in The Predator, Shane Black’s reboot of the famous monster action series. But now The Hollywood Reporter says that Del Toro won’t appear in the film, and Black and producers are looking for another star. Now the guy close to the lead role is Narcos star Boyd Holbrook.

“While Holbrook does not have the star power Del Toro has,” THR notes, “Fox is planning on beefing up the supporting cast.” I don’t know who they have in mind but I hope they mean Arnold. He was, after all, the only guy to survive the original Predator. DO IT FOX, GET ARNOLD BACK TO THE CHOPPAH.

THR sources say the issue with Del Toro was primarily scheduling:

Among the projects he was supposed to shoot was a sequel to Sicario ... Fox even pushed back the start date to February in order to accommodate the actor. Sources say scheduling issues again became a problem when Del Toro's other movies were rejigged.

That’s too bad; I would have liked to see Del Toro tussle with the Predator. And Holbrook’s a guy I’m not too familiar with. (I haven’t watched Narcos.) The real star here, though, even more than the Predator, is Black, who appeared in a small role in the 1987 Predator as one of the members of Schwarzenegger’s team. I want to see what he does with the material, plain and simple.