Ever since Prey arrived, Predator fans have been eagerly awaiting the continuing story of Amber Midthunder’s Naru. But when handed the keys to continue expanding the ultimate alien-hunter saga, director Dan Trachtenberg had bigger ideas. Rather than deliver a direct sequel, he went the opposite direction – not only cooking up animated anthology movie Predator: Killer Of Killers under a shroud of secrecy, but pivoting to Predator: Badlands. We’ve never seen a Predator film like it – especially since its hero is… well, a Predator (or, ‘Yautja’, to give it its specific species name).
As Trachtenberg tells Empire, going against conventional wisdom was actually the most logical move. “You immediately think: ‘Prey 2’,” he says. “But with sequels, people sometimes get so caught up going, ‘This could happen next,’ they never stop to think, ‘Should it happen next?’ Prey was special because it was this big idea that hadn’t existed before. I wanted the next thing to be that, too.” With a killer concept in mind – we follow Yautja ‘runt’ Dek on an epic monster hunt, with the upper torso of Weyland-Yutani synthetic Thia (Elle Fanning’s top half) strapped to his back – he had to lean into every opportunity it offered. “In general, I’m always looking for: what could happen only in this movie?” The result is, he says, “a kind of buddy-comedy,” a genre-switch from his previous live-action entry due to the pairing of Dek and Thia. “Prey was a solo survival tale; this is a relationship story.”
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With aliens, androids, and beasts galore, prepare for a wild ride. “It’s like a Ray Harryhausen movie,” laughs Trachtenberg. “This crazy adventure against monsters and the elements — only this time it’s a badass Predator against those things. We wanted Dek to be relatable, but without turning him into Luke Skywalker. He’s still a Predator — we had to allow him to be a dick. But a dick you can root for.” Let the hunt begin.