After The Predator bombed in 2018, it seemed the iconic sci-fi franchise might have run its course. Disney later acquired the rights to the franchise in the Disney/Fox merger, and filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg was tasked with rebooting the franchise...for streaming.
Hulu was as good as it was going to get for Predator after a string of underwhelming big screen efforts, but Prey was a critical and viewership hit that helped put the Yautja back on the map. Since then, Trachtenberg has co-directed the animated Predator: Killer of Killers and the live-action Predator: Badlands, the latter of which will play in theaters later this year.
Predator: Badlands will have a vastly different feel, as the Yautja is expected to be portrayed in a heroic light.
Talking to Empire Online (via SFFGazette.com), Trachtenberg 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."
Acknowledging that it was a challenge to make it so that audiences would get behind a creature they're used to fearing and rooting against, the filmmaker added, "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," Trachtenberg 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]."
With these comments comes a new still from the movie showing Dek and another Yautja (mistakenly referred to as Dek's father by Empire, according to Trachtenberg), wielding the weapon that this Predator will carry into battle. You can see that in the X post below.
The movie, which stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, 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.
As noted, Trachtenberg directs and produces Predator: Badlands alongside John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Ben Rosenblatt, and Brent O’Connor.
Predator: Badlands opens exclusively in movie theaters on November 7 in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, Cinemark XD, 4DX, ScreenX, and premium screens everywhere.