Later this year, the Predator franchise will return to the big screen for the first time since 2018 in Predator: Badlands. Prey director and writer Dan Trachtenberg is returning to the franchise with a new story that puts a young Predator named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) into the leading role. That alone is a first for the franchise, and Trachtenberg also recently revealed that a classic PlayStation 2 game inspired his story for Badlands.
The film will also introduce Elle Fanning as Thia, a character who is rumored to be an android with links to the Alien franchise’s Weyland-Yutan corporation. According to Trachtenberg, the unusual dynamic between Dek and Thia was born out of his experiences with Shadow of the Colossus, a PS2 game that debuted in 2005.
“I’ve been very inspired by video games [like] Shadow of the Colossus, where you have a protagonist paired with someone else who provides color and connection,” said Trachtenberg during an interview with Bloody Disgusting. “There’s a thing with a horse in Shadow of the Colossus that’s devastating when you play the game. And so [Predator: Badlands] was a little bit inspired by that in terms of wanting to see the Predator with someone else, this character who’s the opposite of him. He’s very laconic, [Fanning] is not. She’s capable in ways that he is not. Physically, she’s got a real thing that I’m so excited for you guys to see. But I want to let eventually some of that speak for itself.”
The story is primarily about Dek’s attempt to prove his worth as a hunter to his family, and Trachtenberg shared the other sources that influenced his story.
“There’s a Frank Frazetta, Conan the Barbarian, Spartan thing … but also you think of The Book of Eli or Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior … Shane, [it’s very] western, very Clint Eastwood-y.”
Badlands is just one of the two Predator movies coming this year. Trachtenberg also directed the upcoming animated film, Predator: Killer of Killers, which will debut directly on Hulu on June 6. Predator: Badlands will hit theaters on November 7.