SFX Magazine has unveiled its latest cover, and it features some striking new artwork for Predator: Badlands.
This latest look at Dan Trachtenberg's highly-anticipated Prey follow-up spotlights Dek, a young Yautja warrior who will be introduced as the franchise's first Predator protagonist, and Thia, a Weyland-Yutani synth played by Elle Fanning.
This mismatched pair will become unlikely allies as they traverse an inhospitable planet with danger lurking around every corner. Just in case it wasn'tr clear from this cover and the previous teasers, Thia will sustain some major damage at one point, with Dek carrying around the top half of her body on his back.
During SDCC earlier this year, Trachtenberg said he took inspiration from Chewbacca carrying C-3PO on his back after the droid is blasted to pieces in The Empire Strikes Back.
Trachtenberg has previously described Dek as the "runt of the litter," adding, "He’s a thing of few words, pretty blunt. He cuts straight to the point. Literally and figuratively."
The filmmaker also addressed the decision to flip the script somewhat by making one of the lethal alien hunters one of the movie's heroes.
"That feels like a big idea, not just within Predator, but in sci-fi generally. In most sci-fi universes, the ‘creatures’ are either bad guys or sidekicks. In [Badlands] it’s: 'What if you were with the creature on this crazy mission to prove itself, seeing everything through its eyes?'"
"After Prey, I had three ideas," he continued. "One was Killer Of Killers, one was Badlands and one...I haven’t done yet. So, there are other awesome ideas and time periods it’d be exciting to explore, and all that’s been part of our discussion for [what’s next]."
In a separate interview, Trachtenberg revealed that Badlands was inspired by the Shadow of the Colossus video game.
“As inspired as I am by movies, I’ve been very inspired by video games [like] Shadow of the Colossus, where you have a protagonist paired with someone else who provides color and connection," adds Trachtenberg. "There’s a thing with a horse in Shadow of the Colossus that’s devastating when you play the game. And so [Predator: Badlands] was a little bit inspired by that in terms of wanting to see the Predator with someone else, this character who’s the opposite of him. He’s very laconic, [Fanning] is not. She’s capable in ways that he is not. Physically, she’s got a real thing that I’m so excited for you guys to see. But I want to let eventually some of that speak for itself.”
Check out the new artwork below.
Predator: Badlands is "set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary."
Trachtenberg directs and produces Predator: Badlands alongside John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Ben Rosenblatt, and Brent O’Connor. The movie opens exclusively in movie theaters on November 7 in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, Cinemark XD, 4DX, ScreenX, and premium screens everywhere.