Fact: Nobody knows how to use child actors in action movies better than Shane Black. The Monster Squad writer has been doing it pretty much his whole career, but he's been on a particularly amazing streak these last few years. He's the one who paired Iron Man up with a mini Tony Stark (Ty Simpkins) in Iron Man 3. Some of the absolute best bits of The Nice Guys come from the hilarious and surprisingly endearing father-daughter relationship between Ryan Gosling and Angourie Rice. And now he's going to keep this trend going with The Predator.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Black has cast Jacob Tremblay, whose performance blew audiences away in Room, as the son of lead actor Boyd Holbrook in his highly anticipated reboot of the beloved sci-fi franchise. Not only that, but in doing so THR has offered up a new synopsis for the movie as well.

"Tremblay will play the son of the character played by Holbrook, the latter playing an ex-Marine who discovers the existence of fierce aliens but that no one believes they exist. The son is autistic and bullied in school but becomes a key player in the fight due to his preternatural ability to learn languages."

Normally a plot description like that may have us raising our eyebrows a bit, but not with Black's involvement. He's earned a fair bit of trust for how he handles kid roles in big action movies. Combine that with the reports that Fox wants The Predator to go back to the original's R-rated roots, and we're even more excited.

The Predator will hit theaters on February 9, 2018.