Predator: Badlands is still quite the mystery in the realm of 2025 movies. Seeing the first trailer tease the existence of a Weyland-Yutani android in Elle Fanning’s Thia certainly raised some eyebrows, and a ton of questions, from fans of the Alien movies. While director Dan Trachtenberg has laid out why that inclusion is part of what we know about Predator: Badlands, my fandom senses are attached to a theory of what this could really mean about the future for both of these worlds.
Dan Trachtenberg Claims Predator: Badlands’ Weyland-Yutani Connection Was An Organic Concept
The helmer of 10 Cloverfield Lane and Prey sat with Empire to chat about, among other things, why this November’s addition to Predator canon is now roping in this infamous mega-conglomerate. I can’t argue with the reasons provided in the answer below, and it actually sounds like a pretty solid answer a fan would throw out when contemplating the following:
I always wanted no humans in this movie, so I thought it might be fun to have the Predator with a robot. Then I thought, ‘I know a company that makes robots…’
A meat bag-free Predator movie isn’t actually a bad idea, despite 2022’s Prey injecting some new life through the very badass and very human protagonist Naru (Amber Midthunder). I’m still very much on board for that, as Dan Trachtenberg has noted that Badlands made a huge franchise changeby having the Yautja being “front and center.”
You kind of need something to spice things up if this hunter is going all out, and letting a human tag along for the ride is going to be pretty dangerous. Weyland-Yutani’s product, on the other hand, can take a licking and keep on tormenting humanity for several films after.
Freshness is what’s kept these franchises alive, especially through the characters presented in the more recent adventures. That’s something else Trachtenberg addressed through these continued remarks:
[They’re a] fun, mismatched pairing. One talkative, one laconic. As exciting and violent as this movie is, the character stuff really pops, too.
I don’t know about you, but Predator: Badlands is looking even more exciting when reading those remarks. Which means it’s the perfect time for me to bust out the cork board and thread, as I’m going to explain what I’m hoping all of these moves will ultimately lead to.
I Want To Believe Predator: Badlands Is Secretly The Gateway To A New Alien vs. Predator Movie
It’s no secret that Dan Trachtenberg and Alien: Romulus co-writer/director Fede Álvarez are both killing it with their respective franchises. That sort of streak is going to have people thinking certain thoughts, like whether or not Álvarez’s secret Alien vs. Predator movie strategy is being considered as we speak.
I’m not so sure that Predator: Badlands is going to be a stealth team-up movie, despite the Don’t Breathe mastermind’s wishes. That being said, there would have had to have been at least a conversation between these two gentlemen to make Thia a Weyland-Yutani synthetic, right?
So knowing how hyped both of these men are for their respective franchises, and a potential Alien vs. Predator project that bridges their worlds, one could assume there was some sort of light dancing around that idea in the process.
Whether it was intentional or just a happy coincidence through a reverent easter egg, Predator: Badlands is about to open the floodgates of speculation. That is surely a tide that’s not easy to dispel, no matter what evidence is provided. Anyone who thinks otherwise should go back and check out the supposed backlash to the Yautja’s look in Badlands, and you’ll realize that rather quickly.
At least, that will be the truth until Badlands hits theaters on November 7th. Though now I’m wondering if Predator: Killer of Killers may have some clues hiding in its animated anthology narrative? It looks like I’ll need to use my Hulu subscription and see what I’ve been missing, as research.
