Predator: Killer of Killers is already one of the biggest streaming wins of the year. Sitting with a rock-solid 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, the animated sci-fi bloodbath from director Dan Trachtenberg and writer Micho Robert Rutare has fans excited about the franchise again. But what if the version you saw on Disney+ wasn’t the final form? What if, somewhere in the shadows, a more traditional, more brutal, more nostalgic Predator was almost unleashed? Well, thanks to concept artist Farzad Varahramyan (or Farzad Art on Instagram), we now know that Predator: Killer of Killers took some big creative swings during development, some of which didn’t survive the final cut.
Sharing his early designs for the film, Farzad gave fans a peek behind the curtain. We’re talking prototype Yautjas that look like they teleported out of Predator 1 or Predator 2, human characters that were completely reimagined (the WW2 pilot was originally German), and experimental weapons designed for very specific eras.
“I was brought in at the very beginning to help visualize and give some options on what Predators, humans and their weapons may look like in these 3 distinct time pieces,” Farzad wrote on his website. “Initially the WW2 pilot was German, but then it got switched to a US pilot, so I suggested the Tuskegee Airman.”
However, this wasn’t his first time working on the franchise. Having worked on Prey, The Predator, Alien vs. Predator, and even the shelved Alien 5, Farzad has been designing Yautja for a while now. One of his cooler (and sadly unused) ideas is a “Predator Pressure Suit” for high-G dogfights. Yes, Predator Top Gun. Just imagine that.
Farzad’s industrial design background came in handy, too. He created unique weapon sets that matched each time period in the movie. From WWII to the far future, each version of the Predator had its own gear. It’s that level of world-building you only notice after a few rewatches.
Naturally, fans had opinions. Reddit exploded. One user declared, “As much as I hate to say this… most of these are cooler than what we got.” Another spotted an early concept for a female Yautja (by artist Michael Broom) and said, “It would’ve been cool and spiced it up considering there wasn’t just one Yautja to focus on.” Someone else was not so thrilled with the designs: “Thank god they didn’t do any of these. They literally all f***in sucked.”
Seems like there’s no middle ground in the Predator fandom. You’re either in the “they should’ve gone full throwback” camp or you’re just happy we didn’t get a German fighter pilot Predator duel. Either way, this movie could’ve been very different. And Farzad’s sketches give fans a rare look into what almost was.
Predator: Killer of Killers is streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. And if you haven’t watched it at least twice, are you even a fan of the franchise?
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