Predator: Badlands is "not just a slasher movie" or "a generic sci-fi", says director Dan Trachtenberg: "It's a hardcore, brutal survival tale… but also crazy fun"

Predator: Badlands is not your average sci-fi movie and will differ from other franchise installments due to the creature having more personality, but that's a good thing, according to director Dan Trachtenberg.

"The movie kind of teaches you how to watch it, and I know traditionally the Predator has just been a creature. Now it's a character and that just takes some adjusting to," says Trachtenberg in the new issue of SFX magazine, which features Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on the cover and hits newsstands on Wednesday, June 18.

“But the cool thing is, when more and more materials come out for the movie, people will see that it is not just a slasher movie. It is not a generic sci-fi movie. It really is a hardcore, brutal survival tale, but also really fun, crazy fun," adds the director.

We haven’t seen much from the upcoming movie other than the first teaser, which introduced Elle Fanning’s android Thia and a young outcast Predator. "I was stoked to have it finally out there in a way, because we've been holding on to it for so long," said the director. However, it sounds like Trachtenberg is saving the best for later: "Soon there will be more trailers and people will get a better sense of the movie."

Badlands will be the second of up to three new Predator additions helmed by Trachtenberg, with the first, Predator: Killer of Killers, premiering on Disney Plus this June. Co-directed and written by Micho Rutare, Killer of Killers takes place in three different timelines and follows a trio of warriors: an ancient Viking raider, a ninja in feudal Japan, and a pilot during World War II. Killer of Killers takes place before the 2022 movie Prey, also directed by Trachtenberg.

However, Badlands will not act as a sequel to either Prey or Killer of Killers. In fact, it is set in the future on a remote planet, "where a young Predator, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary," as per the official synopsis.

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Predator: Badlands releases in theaters on November 7. Read more in the latest issue of SFX magazine, which will be available from Wednesday, June 18. Here's the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds cover you need to be looking out for on newsstands below...