‘The Predator’ Film Updates: Benicio del Toro Drops Out of Lead Role, ‘Narcos’ Actor Boyd Holbrook in Talks as Replacement

‘The Predator’ suffered a major setback after lead actor Benicio del Toro dropped out of the film. However, Twentieth Century Fox is looking to cast ‘Narcos’ star Boyd Holbrook to replace del Toro.

According to Collider, del Toro has fallen out of negotiations with Twentieth Century Fox to star in director Shane Black’s upcoming ‘The Predator’ film. Casting the 49-year old multi-award winning actor had always been tricky for the studio, having moved around the production start date to February to accommodate his other films.

He is known for his roles in films namely 1995’s ‘The Usual Suspects’, 1998’s ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’, 2000’s ‘Snatch’, 2005’s ‘Sin City’, 2008’s ‘Che’, and 2015’s ‘Sicario’. He also plays the character called The Collector in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ cinematic series.

Despite del Toro’s departure from the upcoming action-adventure and horror film, it was reported by The Hollywood Reporter that Boyd Holbrook is being eyed as del Toro’s replacement for the lead role. Holbrook gained international fame on Netflix’s crime web television series ‘Narcos’ as DEA agent Steve Murphy.

Holbrook also worked on several full-feature films including 2014’s ‘The Skeleton Twins’, 2014’s ‘A Walk Among the Tombstones’, 2014’s ‘Gone Girl’, 2015’s ‘Run All Night’, and 2016’s ‘Jane Got a Gun’. He is set to star opposite Hugh Jackman in 2017’s ‘Logan’ as the villain Donald Pierce.

It was reported that although Holbrook may not have the same heavy star power as del Toro, the studio has plans to augment the supporting cast.

Black is set to direct the new film intended as the sequel to 1987’s ‘Predator’, the film that established the science-fiction franchise of the same name.

The original release was directed by John McTiernan and starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan "Dutch" Schaefer, the leader of an elite group of soldiers tasked at rescuing hostages from guerilla territory in Central America. Their mission took a turn for the worst when they were suddenly confronted by a vicious extraterrestrial yet humanoid creature later known to hunt down other species for sport and honor.

It was released on June 1987 to critical and commercial success. According to Box Office Mojo, McTiernan’s film earned $98.27 million worldwide on a production budget of $15 million.

‘The Predator’ is an upcoming science-fiction and horror film directed by Shane Black with a screenplay prepared by Black and Fred Dekker. It is produced by John Davis, Lawrence Gordon, and Joel Silver with Bill Bannerman executive producing. The film is scheduled to be released on February 9, 2018 in the United States.