Predator: Badlands director tried to make sure the movie's Alien references were added "elegantly": "There's a seduction to grab all the action figures and smush them together"

With Predator: Badlands, director Dan Trachtenberg makes his third entry into the Predator franchise after helming 2022's Prey and 2025's Predator: Killer of Killers. But despite elements of the Alien series making their way into Badlands, he wanted to make sure he incorporated them in an "elegant" way (even if he thinks it would be "cool" to be the "Alien vs. Predator guy").

"I think sometimes people that 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," Trachtenberg said during the movie's panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 when asked about the Alien references in the movie.

For one thing, one of the main characters is a droid made by none other than Weyland-Yutani, the powerful corporation behind pretty much all the events of the Alien franchise.

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"I was very focused on there not being any humans in the movie, because I knew as soon as we put one in, that's where all of us would start paying attention to and then we would lose the real cool, which is Predator as protagonist," he explained. "So the next thought was like, okay, Predator and a robot. It'll be a really human story, but it's about a Predator and a robot. And then I thought, 'I know someone who makes robots.' And so that was the Weyland-Yutani of it all. And that, of course, leads to even more cool ideas."

Trachtenberg also spoke a little about his motivation to make the movie, which originated with the realization that the Predator is always kind of down on his luck. "Something that has never happened is the Predator never wins, and they're supposed to be the greatest hunters in the galaxy, and humans seem to be really formidable and always taking them down," he said.

"But in thinking about making a movie where the Predator wins, I didn't love the idea of just making a slasher movie with the bad guy as the winner. I really wanted to see if there was a way to make that feel like still a really emotional and visceral journey, and one where you can connect with the Predator."

In Predator: Badlands, Elle Fanning plays Thia, a Weyland-Yutani droid. She joins forces with young Predator outcast Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) to embark on a treacherous journey.

Keep track of all the latest news from this year's San Diego Comic Con with our regularly updated live blog. Predator: Badlands arrives in theaters on November 7. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other best upcoming movies on the way in 2025.