What felt so remarkable about Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey, the 2022 Predator prequel, was how it placed the Predator in human history. The film rocketed back in time to show the havoc the creature wreaked on a group of Native Americans in the Great Plains during the 18th century. There was a novelty to the setting but not so much the Predator itself. Thirty-something years into the franchise, we’re more or less aware of what the Predator is and what it does. We’ve seen the Predator hunt. We’ve seen the Predator kill. We’ve heard the Predator’s seductive little clicky noise somewhere in the distance. What’s left for the Predator we all know, love, and fear who has hunted humans for centuries? Well, going to high school, of course!
Okay, not exactly, but Trachtenberg’s follow-up to Prey situates the young Predator (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) front and center. In the new teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands, we catch a glimpse of what may be the Predator’s home planet, full of deadly-looking flowers and giant threatening creatures. Per Disney’s announcement at this year’s CinemaCon, the Predator at the center of Badlands has been exiled from his clan and embarks on a “treacherous journey.” Like Spider-Man, Hercules, and Zac Efron in High School Musical before him, the Predator is going on a classic hero’s journey. That doesn’t mean, however, that you should count him out. “He’s still badass, but there’s something there that touches you emotionally, too,” Trachtenberg told Empire magazine, affirming this blogger’s personal theory that the young Predator is way more nerd than jock.
Like any good outsider oddball, the young Predator needs a buddy for his trek. Working alongside him is Thia, played by Elle Fanning, who fans speculate is a Weyland-Yutani android owing to a vague logo spotted in the the wreckage of a ship. Fanning also, per Empire, is playing “multiple roles”; maybe that means we get a human version and a robot one. Will these two unlikely friends survive their dangerous mission long enough to make it to prom? Rooting for the Predator puts a fun twist on an old classic, even more so if it winds up leading to a new Alien vs. Predator entry in the future.
Predator: Badlands is one of two Predator movies out this year, the other an animated feature also directed by Trachtenberg called Predator: Killer of Killers. In that film, Trachtenberg returns to his Prey roots and sends the Predator (adult) back in time to fight a Viking raider, a samurai, and a World War II pilot. Where can the Predator franchise go from here? Maybe next time, they’ll kill two birds with one stone and send teen Predator back in time to fight a knight.
