Predator: Badlands Trailer Reveals Epic Predator Worldbuilding

Live-action Predator movies are rare — and especially so for one that humanizes the franchise’s most lethal, bloodthirsty extra-terrestrial monster by making him the film’s hero. But today (May 19), 20th Century Studios shared the first teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands, which will follow a Predator teen cast out from his clan, and a Weyland-Yutani android who find themselves fighting for their lives against “the ultimate enemy” — an unkillable monster.

The Badlands trailer, which you can check out above, kicks off a pair of big releases for Predator. (Next, you may not have to leave home to see.) As for Badlands, here’s everything to know about its plot, cast, and release.

Who is in the cast of Predator: Badlands?

The film’s new protagonist is a young Predator named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), banished from his community for a crime that’s left him a social outcast. Teaming up with Dek is android Thia (Elle Fanning), sent by her human handlers to track down a KTE (“killing time entertainment”) Predator android, of which there is only one — a cybernetic assassin used for pleasure killing. But Thia and Dek aren’t the only characters we see in the Badlands trailer.

The short clip also shows multiple other Predators — ones who look to be both rivals and allies to Dek. (Multiple Predator clans in one movie? We can only imagine the chaos!) These Predators wear elaborate, ceremonial armor and engage in both stealthy stakeouts and close-quarters combat. Badlands is also introducing a new Predator design — a single entity, “that can’t be killed,” that’s hinted to be among the threats Dek and Thia will have to survive.

Premise and worldbuilding for Predator: Badlands

Badlands will be its own story within the Predator/Alien shared universe. But early reporting and the first trailer both hint that at least part of the film will be set on the Predator home world — a first for the Predator franchise. Indeed, the Alien/Predator shared universe has been flirting with the concept, most recently through references to a now-shuttered Yautja Commune on Fiorina 161, where the Predator film Prey took place.

As such, the first trailer for Badlands has an interstellar travel jump, glimpses of an extraterrestrial landscape, and shots of a sprawling Predator outpost. Plus, it shows multiple Predator species in combat and close quarters — presumably the species we saw at the opening of the trailer, embroiled in an assassination mission. Whether the film also takes place on Fiorina 161 is unclear, but the first teaser strongly suggests that at least some of the plot will be on the Predator home planet.

Dan Trachtenberg, who directed Prey, returns for the new Predator. Trachtenberg and his team did an excellent job balancing familiar tropes from the Predator franchise with genre subversion. While Prey didn’t go as in-depth on Predator society, we may get a much richer look at the alien warrior race in Badlands. There are at least hints of Yautja-specific culture, like armor and language, as well as an inner political dynamic of Predators with different allegiances and power struggles. (A major plot point in Prey was Dexala being hunted as an outcast from her own Predator clan.)

In other words, if the early looks at Predator: Badlands live up to Prey’s setup, we’re likely to learn more about the culture, politics, and rituals of Yautja than we have in decades. (At least in the movie universe. The comic book universe has gotten into some dark corners of the Predator mythos.) Plus, we can expect the franchise’s signature high-tech arsenal, hand-crafted (by human fans) weapons, and old school knives.

Predator: Badlands is the first film in the series to feature an android prominently in the plot as well as the central duo. In the trailer, Thia walks with exaggerated mechanical precision and utters short, metallic phrases with cold detachment — though a hint of intrigue and humanity show through as she follows Dek on his trek through the desert. The pairing of the alien hunters with a human-constructed android is a first, but Thia is Weyland-Yutani, so fans of the Alien series may see some Easter eggs connecting the two.

Directorial duties on Predator: Badlands will be handled by Dan Trachtenberg, a first-time Predator director who previously worked on episodes of the TV series The Flash and Lost. Trachtenberg was also the director of 2022’s Prey — one of the highest-rated films of all time. That film had a massive impact in the market as well, becoming one of Hulu’s highest-watched ever. (Good reviews plus big viewership helped Prey’s Metacritic score.) With the announcement of Badlands came word that Trachtenberg will also helm a new Hulu series: Predator: Killer of Killers.

Trailer, release date, and next for Predator: Badlands

While the first teaser trailer was short, it did show enough to excite Predator fans and give us enough to chew on in the weeks to come. What does Dek do to deserve banishment from his people? Will the monster glimpsed at the end be filmed? Where is he, what is he, and why is he impossible to kill? Will Prey actor Machine Gun Kelly make an appearance as the character Rances in this film, as was rumored?

There is plenty to tease before Predator: Badlands releases in theaters November 7. In the coming weeks, the studio will release trailers, posters, and more as the November 7 date approaches. We can be sure that at least one more key new addition to the film will be explained: a closer look at this new Yautja, his world, and his battle against an indestructible monster.