Arnold Schwarzenegger turned down 'Predator' reboot appearance

HOLLYWOOD, CA - AUGUST 15: Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger arrives at Lionsgate Films' 'The Expendables 2' premiere on August 15, 2012 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images) (2012 Getty Images)

He won’t be back.

Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected a brief appearance in the “Predator” reboot as his character from the original 1987 version of the film, Major Alan “Dutch” Schaefer, director Shane Black revealed.

“There were a couple of ideas to include [Schwarzenegger], mostly in the third act,” Black, 56, told Yahoo Movies UK.

The reboot takes place in the present day, 31 years after Schwarzenegger’s iconic first appearance as Dutch.

“The studio wanted, I think, something a bit fresh, that didn’t rely on solely on Arnold’s re-emergence, but they were open to the idea to the notion of having him in in a smaller role,” he continued. “I was fine with that, but it did present a problem, because when you call Mr. Schwarzenegger, you don’t want to say, ‘Hey, we got this smaller role for you if you want it.’ I felt embarrassed to ask him.”

In 2016, Schwarzenegger, 71, mentioned that he’d planned to meet with Black to discuss the role.

Black recalled, “He said, ‘Well, if I was featured more, yeah, but what you’re suggesting is that you’re creating this new thing and just using me to bless it.’ And so [I said], ‘Ahem … yes.’ And so I was not surprised when he said, ‘Look, I wish you luck, but that’s too small a role for me.’ ”

This story originally appeared in the New York Post.