Predator: Badlands director explains how the sci-fi film's surprise Stranger Things cameo happened: "They had to very quickly learn Yautja"

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While Predator: Badlands might not have crossed over with the Alien franchise in a major way, it did feature a surprising cameo from none other than Stranger Things.

In the movie, the voice of Dek's ship is provided by the Duffer brothers, AKA the creators of the hit Netflix sci-fi show.

"We were mixing Badlands on the very same stages where they were mixing Stranger Things at the same time," director Dan Trachtenberg explained to Variety. "We had some of the same sound mixers working on both. We needed to do the Yautja ship voice, and I was like, 'What if I asked the Duffers to do it? How crazy would that be?' They had no idea that I was gonna hand him a piece of paper with, like, "'N, G, I, L, A' is a word. Good luck!' They had to very quickly learn Yautja. The computer voice is heavily treated and needs to sound affected. So actually, smearing their voices together and then doing other stuff in the computer made the perfect voice."

Recently, Predator: Badlands has received some high praise from none other than Hideo Kojima. "The film also takes heavy visual inspiration from video games. It represents a new direction for Hollywood entertainment led by a new generation of filmmakers who have inherited the global 'memes' of manga, anime, and gaming culture," he wrote on Twitter.

You can watch the new Predator movie in theaters now. For even more, check out our Predator: Badlands review, or see our guide on how to watch the Predator movies in order.