We've got Predator: Badlands in our sights, with the sci-fi series' eagerly anticipated next chapter due to come out in just a few months' time. Fans recently had their appetites whetted with animated anthology flick Predator: Killer of Killers – which we gave the big five stars to in our review – and now we're hungry for more.
The franchise is currently in good hands with filmmaker Dan Tractenberg, the director of Prey (one of the best sci-fi movies in recent years), and with all its Weyland-Yutani references and Alien: Earth due to drop on the small screen very soon, we're desperate to see how the fictional worlds are set to connect.
As it stands, there's not all that much out there about the film just yet, but that hasn't stopped us from hunting down any detail we could find on the internet about the otherworldly thriller. If it reads, we can bill it... From cast and plot to teasers and what's next for the series, scroll on to find out all we know so far about Predator: Badlands.
Predator: Badlands release date
Predator: Badlands is due in UK and US theaters on November 7. It's set to be the second Predator movie to come out in 2025, following the release of Dan Trachtenberg and co-director Joshua Wassung's animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers in June.
Filming kicked off in New Zealand on August 27, 2024 and concluded in late October. Trachtenberg has previously stated that every single shot of the film features VFX work, which explains why its release date is over a year out from the wrapping of principal photography.
Predator: Badlands trailer
With a little over three months until release, the first full trailer for Predator: Badlands was dropped online on July 21 – though it keeps its cards still relatively close to its armored chest like the previous teaser.
It boasts a surprisingly upbeat tone, as Elle Fanning's Weyland-Yutani robot Thia teases exiled Yautja Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), who's hellbent on killing the "ultimate adversary" and proving himself to his kind.
The first shot is interesting, in particular, depicting Thia linked up to a MU/TH/UR mainframe with the signature '062578'. In the original Alien movie, the ship's AI was MU/TH/UR 6000... Does this mean Predator: Badlands is set way after the first Alien film? Or way before?
Later, we see Dek go up against winged beasts, foes with powerful tentacles, and a giant, furry creature. "Here, you're not the predator. You're the prey," Thia warns him, to which he angrily replies in his native language: "I am prey to none!"
Stay tuned right until the very end to catch a glimpse of a machine that's reminiscent of the powerloader Sigourney Weaver's Ripley fought the Xenomorph Queen in Aliens.
Predator: Badlands cast
As it stands, only two cast members have been confirmed for Predator: Badlands, and that's Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning. The former is set to play Dek, a young Yautja outcast who's hellbent on proving himself to his clan, while the latter is on board as artificial human Thia.
We imagine that more actors will be announced later down the line, and the full trailer, which is sure to drop soon, will likely reveal other faces, too. We'll be sure to keep you posted!
Predator: Badlands plot
In previous Predator films, the Yautja have been villainous figures who terrorize our (more) human heroes, but Predator: Badlands will shake things up by centering the titular creature as its protagonist.
While we haven't got specifics yet, we know that the movie will predominantly take place on Yautja Prime, the Predators' homeworld, which made its onscreen debut in Predator: Killer of Killers, and see lead character Dek align himself with a Weyland-Yutani bot named Thia after he's cast out from his tribe. Together, the twosome set out on a treacherous journey to take on the most fearsome enemy – and prove Dek as an ultimate hunter.
Given Thia's manufacturer being Weyland-Yutani and some Alien easter eggs already on display (and a blink-and-you'll-miss-it glimpse at what looks like a Xenomorph skull in the teaser), many have been speculating as to how much the film will crossover with the Alien franchise – a theory amplified by the fact that one specific trailer for the upcoming series Alien: Earth features a very Predator-sounding snarl.
During the movie's panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Trachtenberg explained that while there will be connections between the two franchises, they will be "elegantly" incorporated, so as not to detract from the Predator being the main focus this time around.
"I think sometimes people who are dabbling in cinematic universes, there's a seduction to grab all the action figures and smush them together. And I really didn't want to do that, and really wanted to make sure that if we ever do something, it would be a little bit more elegant," he said.
However, when previously asked whether he'd seen any of the Hulu/Disney Plus show yet, Trachtenberg replied with a grin: "Mmm. What a question. I have seen some Alien: Earth and it's pretty effing awesome what I've seen." Consider us suspicious...
What's next for the Predator franchise?
So, once Predator: Badlands comes out, what comes next? If things were up to Trachtenberg, another movie... though he's keeping coy on what that movie would look like exactly.
"After Prey came out, and I started thinking about sequel stuff, there were three ideas that I had. Killers is one, Badlands is two and the third one is... something else," the filmmaker tells SFX magazine in its latest issue. "The reason why I felt possessed to make them and sort of why I rushed – I did two at once because I could do, I could multitask with animation – was because I was so eager to get to the third thing.
"There's a lot of cool ideas out there and none of them are just like, 'Oh, we have to say the next part of this story because it was successful,'" he continues. "All of it is like, 'Whoa, no one has done that in sci-fi . No one has done that in Predator. No one's done that with the creature,' all of those ideas are generated from that instinct. So, yeah, there is definitely a third thing that I'd love to get to when Badlands is finished." We're already excited.
For more, check out our guide to the most exciting upcoming movies heading our way.
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