The Predator is the one being hunted in Predator: Badlands

In February of 2024, it was announced that Prey director Dan Trachtenberg would become the first filmmaker to take the helm of two films in the Predator franchise, as he was moving ahead with a new Predator film titled Badlands, working from a screenplay by Prey screenwriter Patrick Aison (based on a story crafted by Trachtenberg himself). Then we found out that while Trachtenberg was making the live-action Predator: Badlands, he was also working on an animated anthology movie called Predator: Killer of Killers, which he wrote with Micho Robert Rutare and directed with Josh Wassung of the animation company The Third Floor. So he has actually made three Predator movies. Predator: Killer of Killers was released through the Hulu streaming service earlier this month and Predator: Badlands is aiming for a November 7, 2025 theatrical release… and during an interview with GamesRadar+, Trachtenberg described the upcoming film as an inversion of the Predator franchise, because this time the Predator is the one being hunted.

According to a casting call, Predator: Badlands has the following synopsis: A groundbreaking film in which one of the two main storylines delves into the intricate bond of two very different sisters, their familial ties are put to the ultimate test as they pursue divergent paths and missions. We’ve previously heard that the story is set sometime in the future. The casting call was searching for a lead actress who could take on the dual role of twin sisters Thia and Tessa: This casting is for a dual character, and describes both characters. Character identifies as female or non-binary, open ethnicity, mid 20s – mid 40s. Thia has spent most of her life in a laboratory and is now embarking on her first big adventure in the world. She is incredibly smart, witty, enthusiastic, and unflappable. She has an innate disregard for danger, not because she’s fearless, but simply because she’s naive. Strong comedy chops required. // The other sister, Tessa, has a militant intensity when it comes to achieving her family’s goals and mission objectives. She will not let anything get in her way, not even her twin sister. These are believed to be the roles Elle Fanning is playing.

What’s in those descriptions (which could have been false information put together for public consumption) doesn’t come through in the trailer, which shows a Predator (we’ve been told this is a teenage Predator who is trying to prove himself after getting banished from his tribe) making his way through a dangerous, otherworldly landscape. Trachtenberg told GamesRadar+, “I’ve always been interested in characters trying to prove themselves. The real special of Badlands is that it is not just another Predator movie, and we’re not just doing the thing where you cut to the Predator and it kills people one by one. Every chapter [in the series] brings its own special engine to the franchise, and the fun of Badlands is really the inversion of it all – that this time, the Predator is the one being hunted, and he is the one needing to prove himself. Badlands is thematically linked to the entire franchise in that way.“

Are you ready to watch a Predator be hunted in this inversion of the franchise? Share your thoughts on Predator: Badlands by leaving a comment below.

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