Predator: Badlands Brings Fans to the Predator Home World

After months of sharing concept art and details about the new live-action Predator installment set to debut in theaters next year, 20th Century Studios unveiled the first official teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands.

Predator: Badlands is set to follow the story of Dek, a young outcast Predator played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Dek is not your typical Predator, though, and in a unique twist on the franchise’s conventions, is framed as the hero of the film. He will be joined in his quest by a Weyland-Yutani android called Thia, played by Elle Fanning. Together, they will take on “the ultimate adversary,” a creature that can’t be killed, that appears to be a giant unknown monster.

Badlands will flesh out Predator lore.

The movie is set to exist in the same universe as other recent Predator and Alien entries, but will be largely a standalone narrative. With that in mind, there has been word of an early creative decision to make at least part of the film take place on the Predator’s home planet, a location never before seen in the franchise. The teaser confirms this location with a few brief shots of alien landscapes and a Predator encampment. Multiple Predators show up, both in apparent conflict with each other and with the “ultimate adversary.”

With a focus on Dek, the film is also expected to explore the culture of the Predator race. A sequel to Prey, which had been directed by and co-written by Dan Trachtenberg and also starred Fanning, the film is expected to continue to delve into uncharted territory for the Predator series. Trachtenberg and his team did this with Prey, which was stripped down to a survivalist face-off on the American Great Plains in the 1700s, in a way that drew back from the franchise to consider the race of Predator as a whole in greater detail. It’s expected that Badlands, while not ignoring the usual amount of high-tech and martial weapons-driven violence, will take a similarly in-depth look at the Yautja’s traditions, dialects, and internal hierarchy.

Fanning’s performance and character are anticipated to be the main focus of the film. Her android character has been described as eerily precise in movement and diction, with an unsettling level of intrigue and empathy behind her words. A Predator film with an android as closely connected to the narrative has not been seen in the franchise, and Badlands is expected to lean into the Weyland-Yutani Corporation’s lore connection to the Alien series in ways that will be interesting to fans of the latter franchise.

Trachtenberg is no stranger to Predator projects.

A major factor in Badlands’ favor is the fact that Trachtenberg is returning as director. Prey, while not a sequel, was received very positively by critics and popular with viewers, doing especially well on Hulu as it became available on the streaming service. In addition to working on the Predator: Badlands production, Trachtenberg has been at work on an animated series in the same franchise that will debut on Hulu as well.

The animated series, titled Predator: Killer of Killers, is scheduled to release on June 6. It will have a similar anthology format to the other Hulu-animated series that has been an overall success for the streaming service, Marvel’s Cinematic Universe Presents: Legends. The series will explore Predator hunts in different periods and locales, likely offering insight into the broader universe of the films in similar ways.

Additional information in the teaser trailer

Though the first teaser trailer for the film was just released today, it is still possible to identify plot elements that will likely be explored in more detail in the trailers to come. There are Predators in ceremonial armor seen clashing in both weaponry and physically, Dek cautiously moving through unknown terrain, Fanning’s Thia wielding a high-tech arsenal, and a brief glimpse of a dark silhouette of the “unkillable” creature with light reflecting on its movement.

Viewers can also see that this Predator movie will not simply be another version of those that came before. A major selling point is the shift in point of view of a Predator (a more youthful and new one at that) and an android, a development that has already proved divisive. The potential for more multifaceted character development, dilemmas, and moral questions is a major part of what sets the film apart from the franchise’s past entries. The protagonist is a banished Predator outcast on a journey for redemption or honor — if that is the case — making it possible for the audience to feel sympathy or see these creatures as something other than one-note villains.

Final thoughts

Predator: Badlands is set to make its theatrical debut on November 7. With an increasing number of dates marked off the calendar, audiences can expect further details to be shared about the upcoming film. This will likely include major plot reveals, previews of grander set pieces, and possibly a clearer look at the “unkillable” monster, which only had a quick, shadowy appearance in the first trailer.

For now, fans will likely be analyzing the first teaser, a nd theories will start to make the rounds. The original, larger-than-life Predator films have a specific aesthetic and tone that this is expected to mirror, but with a new twist for this chapter in the franchise.