Shane Black: Predator hero is Quinn McKenna

Shane Black has revealed the name of his lead character in his new movie 'The Predator'.

The 54-year-old writer/director is bringing the sci-fi action franchise back to the big screen and let slip the moniker of his main man during a Q&A in London for his current film 'The Nice Guys', organised by Empire.

When quizzed about his next film 'The Predator', he said: "The hero of the film, the name I've given the guy, is Quinn McKenna. Quinn McKenna. Rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?"

Although Black said this could change, given the film is still in early stages of pre-production, and nobody has been cast yet.

Arnold Schwarzenegger starred as soldier Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer in the original 1987 movie - in which he and his squad are hunted by a trophy-hunting alien warrior - and he has stated he is open to returning to the franchise.

Black wouldn't comment on the possibility of Schwarzenegger coming back, but he did reveal he wants his movie to feel like an "event" again.

He said: "It's an attempt to 'event-ise' the Predator again. An attempt to make it more mysterious. The Predator has been so overdone. Every couple of years, there's a knock-off churned out. Very low budget with a guaranteed return. (We want to achieve) the same sense of wonderment and newness that 'Close Encounters' had when that came out. That's what we want. It's very impossible. But we're gonna try. It doesn't have to be 50 Predators riding motorcycles. It just has to feel like a powerful story that has a lot of flavours and textures."

The last movie featuring the box office alien was 2010's 'Predators', which starred Adrien Brody, Topher Grace and Laurence Fishburne and was directed by Robert Rodriguez.

'The Predator' is set to hit cinemas in March 2018.