Predator: Badlands Teaser Is Full of Action and Alien Worlds

A new live-action Predator movie is rare enough — one that casts the titular monster as the protagonist, rarer still. Today, 20th Century Studios released the first teaser for the forthcoming Predator: Badlands, which promises a decidedly different take on the series’ vicious interstellar killers.

Predator: Badlands, which features Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek, a young Predator cast out of their culture, follows him as he teams up with a female Weyland-Yutani android named Thia (played by Elle Fanning). Together, the duo will take on “the ultimate adversary,” which, the trailer promises, “can’t be killed.” Viewers catch a few brief glimpses of the beast in the trailer: a massive, tentacled monstrosity unlike anything audiences have previously seen in the Predator or Alien franchises.

It’s unclear how much of Badlands will unfold on the Predator’s home world, though rumors have suggested the home world will play host to at least a portion of the film. The teaser does, however, feature a few glances of the alien world, including Predalien ecosystems and bustling Predator cities. We also get to see multiple Predators, both in brooding standoffs with each other and in brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Predator: Badlands Expands the Universe

While Badlands will be its own adventure in the overarching Predator/Alien shared universe, early indications are that the film will do some heavy worldbuilding of its own. In addition to showcasing the Predator home world, rumors also indicate that the film will be set on the Predator’s home planet, a location alluded to across the films but never depicted until now. The teaser backs up those early reports, including fleeting images of Predator cities, alien jungles, and both domestic and wild Predators.

Director and co-writer Dan Trachtenberg, who directed 2022’s Prey, seems to be itching to develop the Predator culture even further. Prey stripped the mythos down to its most base and primal in a “narrative duel” on the 18th century American Great Plains. Badlands, on the other hand, will likely expand upon and explore more of the alien species’ customs, language, and internal politics. From the looks of the teaser, audiences can expect more insight into Yautja culture — and the series’ trademark body armor, jetpacks, and wall-scaling hands — going forward.

The other character that stands out in the trailer is Elle Fanning’s android Thia. In the trailer, she moves with unnatural efficiency and spouts dialogue in an eerily placid monotone, with a brief crack in the armor that occasionally surfaces as curiosity and empathy. It’s the first time a Predator movie has been this closely intertwined with a human-created Weyland-Yutani android, so the parallels and linkages to the Alien series should excite fans of either series who enjoy lore-crossing Easter eggs.

Veteran Filmmakers Return

Trachtenberg’s return to the director’s chair is another of the film’s major pluses. In addition to critical praise for revitalizing the franchise and renewing fan interest in the character, Prey also performed well on Hulu, with strong reviews and word-of-mouth boosting its viewership. The filmmakers’ return signals a strong vote of confidence from 20th Century Studios and assurance to fans that the crew will be able to return with a fresh take while also remaining respectful to the established sci-fi universe.

Trachtenberg, of course, is not working on Predator: Badlands alone. The filmmaker has been working on Predator: Killer of Killers, a Hulu-exclusive animated anthology series, which will be released on June 6 on the same platform that carried Prey. That series will see creators develop Predators through their various hunts across a multitude of settings and time periods.

What We Know About the Film So Far

The first teaser doesn’t go so far as to drop any major spoilers on the film, but it provides enough to unpack and mull over for days. It’s chock-full of Predators in ceremonial armor looking grim and gunning each other down, Dek stealthily prowling through the wilderness, Thia firing high-tech weaponry with mechanical efficiency, and brief glimpses of the enigmatic “unkillable” force.

The alien planet and Predator city are lush and expansive, with jungles, towering cliffs, and glimpses of expansive production. It’s clear this is not just a Predator hunting another species on an Earth or jungle planet — the scale of the locations and set pieces is much bigger.

The biggest takeaway from the teaser trailer is that Badlands is breaking the mold of its predecessors. The shift in perspective, from the typical humans-in-doomed-plight to a Predator outcast, injects the movie with the potential for more dynamic character development and moral gray area. If Dek has to earn his honor back with his hunt or return in triumph to the city, viewers may find themselves cheering for the hunted to become the hunter.

Date and Looking Ahead

Predator: Badlands will release on November 7 in theaters and is primed to be one of the biggest sci-fi action blockbusters to close out the year. In the months leading up to its release, audiences should see multiple trailers and promotional material from the film, which will almost certainly reveal more plot points, flesh out more of the set pieces, and give a longer look at the titular “unkillable” creature.

For now, however, this first teaser does what it sets out to do: give audiences both new and old something to get excited about and a few new things to speculate and theorize over. With a proven filmmaker at the helm, an intriguing pair of leads, and the promise of lore development and worldbuilding, Badlands has all the ingredients of the shake-up fans have been waiting for.

It’s unclear how audiences will react when they see the full film in theaters in November, but one thing’s for sure: the hunt is on.