The hunt is back on — and this time, the tables have turned.
A brand-new trailer for Predator: Badlands has landed, giving fans their first explosive look at the latest chapter in the ever-evolving Predator universe. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg — the filmmaker behind 2022’s masterstroke Prey and the more recent animated spin-off Predator: Killer of Killers — this latest installment looks poised to bring us closer to the Yautja than any film in the series has dared to before.
Set in a distant future on a remote planet, Badlands flips the traditional Predator script on its head. At the heart of this story is a young, exiled Predator, cut off from his clan and his code, forging an unlikely alliance with Thia (Elle Fanning) to go up against the definitive apex predator.
Something that’s already crystal clear is that Trachtenberg doesn’t just “get” Predator — he reinvents it. With Prey, he rewired the DNA of the franchise, ditching military bravado for raw survival and primal fear. Badlands looks to double down on that energy, this time plunging us deeper into the Predator’s own journey.
It’s a risky swing — one that Alien vs. Predator once tried to navigate (to a lesser extent) but stumbled through. But here, the idea of Trachtenberg turning the lens inward has us fully invested in where he takes the franchise next. And from the trailer, it looks like he may be injecting a bit more humor — something the series has mostly sidestepped outside of Arnie’s iconic one-liners in the original and Stephen Hopkins’ tonal shift in Predator 2.
Predator: Badlands opens exclusively in movie theaters on November 7 in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, Cinemark XD, 4DX, ScreenX, and premium screens everywhere. And if the trailer is any indication, we’re in for a Predator film unlike any we’ve experienced thus far — one that dares to stare deep into the eyes beneath the mask.
So sharpen your blades, prep your cloaking device, and book those premium format tickets now. The Badlands are calling.
