Predator: Badlands First Trailer Hints at Rich Predator Mythology

As a rule, Predator movies are not that common. The appearance of a new live-action film of the franchise is a rare event for the film industry, and a new monster movie with an alien is also not every day. This is what is so unique about Predator: Badlands, where the predator is the protagonist. Released today, the first teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands was shown for the first time. On the social networks, the film was presented as “Breaking the rules … Badlands is here.”

The film follows a young predator named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), who was exiled from his own for various reasons. Dek will be joined by an android named Thia, who is played by Elle Fanning. In the film, they will be faced with “the greatest enemy of all,” an unkillable monster that “can’t be killed.” While the actual foe was only briefly glimpsed in the new teaser trailer, the monstrosity is likely a huge, gargantuan beast that is new to the Predator and Alien universes.

The film, which will exist in the larger Predator/Alien shared universe, will be in the Alien verse. It’s been reported that part of the movie is on the Predator home planet. This is the first time a live-action film has attempted to film in the Predators’ world, so viewers will get a pretty good glimpse of an alien landscape. We will also see a lot of Predators. We can expect various Predator interactions, whether it’s a confrontation or battle between Predators, because at least two Predators are shown in the trailer and, more importantly, the Predator way of life in different parts of the alien landscape is shown through Predators passing by, whole cities, and fully-fledged Predator action.

The Predator: Badlands story, directed by and co-written by Dan Trachtenberg, looks like it’s going to be an expansion of the franchise mythology. Prey, which was released in 2022, peeled back the curtain on the Predator universe and put a Predator in the spotlight with less focus on the bigger picture. Predator: Badlands is likely to go further into Predator tradition and cultural practices, speech, societal structures, and its home environment. So, if Prey was a tale of survival about life and death in an alien jungle with only one hunter, Predator: Badlands will be a visual worldbuilding tour of the Predator universe.

In this, Elle Fanning’s android character Thia is also noteworthy. She’s moving in an exceptionally fluid and eerily mechanical way while also talking in a sort of robotic fashion. Fanning is, of course, emotive and very human when she smiles, and the metal details on her bodysuit are very sharp and angular, yet there are moments of curiosity and some interesting, if nuanced, emotional moments in the trailer for Thia. The fact that the film’s Predator is in a personal alliance with a Weyland-Yutani android is already big news for the Predator franchise, and Predator: Badlands will also be of interest to Alien fans who watch for alien world-building easter eggs.

The film’s director, Dan Trachtenberg, is also of interest. Prey not only received critical acclaim for refreshing the movie series but also reached a large audience on Hulu thanks to its theatrical release, and the series quickly gained audience praise through word-of-mouth. The director’s return is a strong sign for the Predator series. It also signals to fans that the production studio is taking a step forward in investing in directors and productions, since Prey was a big success and hit a wide audience.

Trachtenberg has another Predator: Badlands sequel in the works. Predator: Killer of Killers is an anthology series that Trachtenberg will helm. It will be available on Hulu, the same service that hosted Prey. The first season will premiere on June 6. Each episode will tell about a different Predator hunt. The entire series will take place in an altered timeline and will take fans from the old West to the far future.

Predator: Badlands will be released in theaters on November 7. The teaser is an excellent appetizer for the full theatrical premiere, but in the coming months, a few more trailers can be expected that will provide more information about the story and, most likely, reveal more plot twists. More about large-scale action is also expected in the trailer, as well as more detailed looks at the mysterious new “unkillable” antagonist.

Trailer

The main thing to know is that the entire material from the teaser changes the point of view, which has already been in the main sequence at least twice. It is no longer about the story of a person hunting for himself. Instead, the entire series of events is focused on the predator and his point of view. To understand what is happening, the viewer, of course, will have to empathize with the Predator character, but the film could work in a broader perspective than just the end of the kill or the fight for survival, if Dek’s story is about restoring his honor or winning back the respect of his fellow Predators. In this case, viewers will already have to protect the alien character.