An international trailer for Predator: Badlands introduces a young outcast Predator navigating a deadly remote planet. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the film flips the franchise formula by making a Predator the protagonist. It arrives in theaters on November 7.
The Predator franchise, which began in 1987, continues with Predator: Badlands, a standalone entry directed by Dan Trachtenberg. He previously helmed the acclaimed 2022 film Prey. This latest installment shifts focus to the Predator species' culture, featuring a language created by the same conlanger behind the Na'vi tongue in James Cameron's Avatar series. The trailer includes snippets of this verbal language.
The official premise states: “Set in the future on a deadly remote planet, Predator: Badlands follows a young Predator outcast (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) who finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) as he embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.” The trailer opens with the line: “The ways of your kind are ones of violence. Either you are hunted or you become the hunter.”
Thia is portrayed as a damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic human, missing her lower body, which ties into the shared universe of the Alien and Predator franchises. Elle Fanning takes on dual roles, also playing Tessa, an antagonist synth. Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi similarly doubles as the outcast Dek and his father Njohur, while Mike Homik appears as Dek's older brother Kwei, who aids in preparing for his first hunt.
Twentieth Century Studios released the first teaser in April, showing multiple Predators in conflict, Fanning's android character, and glimpses of new monsters on an alien world. The film gained visibility at San Diego Comic-Con this summer. A tie-in prequel comic from Marvel Comics launches on November 12. Fans can also watch Trachtenberg's animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers on Hulu, which premiered on June 6.