A new trailer for 20th Century Studios’ upcoming sci-fi epic, Predator: Badlands, has dropped, giving a better look at its young Yautja protagonist in action alongside the Weyland-Yutani synth Thia, as they go from hunter to being hunted.
Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who returns to the franchise after helming 2022’s Prey and the recent animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, the movie is set to shake things up by making the Predator its central figure this time around, instead of being the usual manhunt antagonist.
In the trailer, the young Yautja Dek, played by actor Dimitrius Koloamatangi, selects the “Death Plant” Kalisk as his hunting ground to prove his worth after being cast out from his clan. He teams up with Elle Fanning’s (Maleficent) Thia, a talkative Weyland-Yutani synth whose body had been sliced in half, and together, the pair forms an uneasy alliance to seek out a massive creature described as “the definitive apex predator”, one that supposedly can’t be killed.
Despite being a capable fighter in his own right and possessing an arsenal of high-tech weaponry, taming the wilds of Kalisk seems no easy feat, as the trailer teases plenty of action in store, pitting Dek against grotesque tentacles, flying beasts, and the aforementioned apex hunter, a hulking monstrosity covered in spikes that towers over the duo.
Alien threats aren’t the only adversaries the pair must face, either, as the trailer also teases a showdown between a small army of what appears to be androids, culminating in a final confrontation between the giant alien monster and a mech reminiscent of the power loader from 1986’s Alien, although it’s unclear who was piloting the machine, although Thia is teased saying “we might not be alone in this hunt”, hinting at a mysterious third party.
In any case, fans won’t have to wait much longer to witness their favourite apex hunters in a whole new light, as Predator: Badlands hits theatres on 7 November 2025.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Natalie
