Abe – The missing Synthetic in Predator: Badlands mystery, solved!

As you may or may not know, there were supposed to be more Synth characters in Predator Badlands, notably one named Abe, who was based on the David and Walter Synths from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant.  

Susie Glass, who worked on the movie described Abe as a "Hero Synth".

"Glass had also teased another synth character, Abe, whom she called the "hero synths," noting that the character was designed as a nod to Michael Fassbender's David and Walter characters from the Alien franchise." – Predator Badlands set visit

This led to some speculation on site, as we were all excited to see Abe in action. Chris even wrote an article about him.

Sadly, his character was cut from the movie. I was very disappointed and wondered why his scenes were removed, but I let it go because these things happen and there's no point in dwelling on it.

Then something interesting happened. Not too long after the movie came out, I was on Instagram and came across a post by stuntman Daniel Nelson. It shows him alongside four other actors, one of whom was Cameron Brown (who played the Drone Synth), filming what looked to be a scene in the movie. (via Daniel Nelson: Instagram)

In the post, he mentions that "Sometimes you're in the finished movie, sometimes you’re not."

That intrigued me, and I thought perhaps one of those actors could be the elusive Abe.

Another post by a different Stunt actor, Beau Weston, solidified my thought that there was more to the images than just them acting as stunt doubles, but I left it at that not thinking more of it. (via Beau Weston: Instagram)

Cut to today when I see a compilation of deleted and pre-visualization scenes from the movie on YouTube, and lo and behold at 6 minutes and 34 seconds in, the missing Abe scene is there (Tessa vs Abe), complete with the stunt actors whom I had suspected were part of it.

It's nice to finally see what could have been, and get some closure on what the Abe character would have been like. Though I still feel it's a shame his part was cut, as it seems like he was the leader of the Synth expedition and was the one giving out the orders, instead of MUTHUR like we got in the final version of the movie.

*Update: In the video clip with the director's commentary (added below) it's confirmed that in the original version of the movie, Abe was an officer and Thia's superior. In that storyline she defies his orders and goes rogue, which leads to a violent confrontation between the two characters. The story would have featured many other Synths as well, not just the Drones. Another fun detail is Thia's name is SYNTH1A.

 

Here are a couple of screenshots of Abe:

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