Variety is reporting the actor/comedian Keegan-Michael Key has joined the cast of Shane Black’s The Predator. Key’s casting follows quickly after Moonlight star Trevante Rhodes’ casting in the Predator sequel yesterday. While Rhodes will be portraying the best friend of Boyd Holdbrook’s lead character, Quinn McKenna, it is unknown what kind of role Key will have in the film at this time. Olivia Munn and 50 Cent also star in the Fox film, which is expected to arrive on February 9th, 2018. The film is produced by franchise shepherds Lawrence Gordon, John Davis, and Joel Silver.
Keegan-Michael Key is probably best known as the co-star of the hit sketch comedy series Key & Peele, which aired on Comedy Central from 2012 to 2015. Last year the duo starred in Keanu, an action-comedy riff on John Wick that saw the two on a wild crime-filled adventure in search of a stolen kitten. Key has also appeared recently in films such as The Lego Movie, Horrible Bosses 2, Pitch Perfect 2, and Why Him?. He will be seen this year in the film Win It All and the upcoming television series, Friends from College. The Predator will not be his first turn in a serious science fiction film, as he previously portrayed a sinister android in Disney’s Tomorrowland.
As I said yesterday, with production imminent, we are going to be seeing more and more casting announcements for The Predator in the coming weeks. Considering both director Shane Black and screenwriter Fred Dekker have frequently described it as an ensemble, I fully expect to be writing up a lot of these pieces and for a wide assortment of actors. I shall do it lovingly each time out, as this property has always been a favorite of mine. Even at its lowest points (being the two Alien vs. Predator films), I still always get a kick out of seeing the titular intergalactic hunters up on the big screen.
Speaking of Alien vs. Predator…
