Predator: Badlands is taking the bold step of making the Predator its protagonist

In the 2020s—a.k.a. the era of perpetual franchise expansion—filmmakers have uncovered a bold solution to one of the problems with this type of infinite growth. If you have the same smiling villain or humanoid parasite terrorizing a new batch of good-guys every single movie, things get boring fast. Why not root against those warm bodies to freshen things up a bit? The superhero industrial complex is doing it right now with titles like The Penguin, Loki, and the Joker movies. (Well, it worked once at least.) Horror at large is shifting in that direction with two films in less than 12 months featuring the camera as the eyes of an archetypal monster—an undead slasher in this year’s In A Violent Nature and a ghost in Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming Presence. Now, it’s apparently the Predator’s turn to take the spotlight.

In an interview with Empire magazine, director Dan Trachtenberg teased that his upcoming film will feature the creature in a very different role than he’s taken in the franchise’s previous outings. “The creature is front and center, leading the charge,” he said of his plans for 2025’s Predator: Badlands. “He’s still badass, but there’s something there that touches you emotionally, too. Creating a character you connect with, but are also super-intimidated by, has been challenging. But exciting.” 

According to the outlet, Predator: Badlands will be a “future-set tale taking place on an alien planet” that isn’t quite a followup to Trachtenberg’s well-received 2022 effort, Prey, but seeks to tap into a similar tone. According to the director, the decision to center the gnarly people-hunter came out of a desire to “find another essential piece of cinema that does what Prey did spiritually—pushing the franchise’s boundaries, letting us root for a hero we rarely get to root for—but in a different way. And that transformed into this big idea of rooting for the Predator.”

This shifting focus does call Elle Fanning’s role into question. The actor will play “more than one character,” the outlet explains, but it’s unclear whether those characters will be for or against the Predator (or how the audience will be asked to empathize with them versus the creature). Either way, the actor apparently faced “intense challenges on this movie—dramatically, physically, logistically.” Guess that’s what happens when you take on an extraterrestrial super-soldier, and he’s the one hailed as a hero.