Badlands' Trailer, I'm Thinking We May Have a Secret Sequel to 'Alien vs. Predator' on Our Hands -

After the success of Dan Trachtenberg‘s Prey in 2022, fans have been waiting for another Predator sequel to build on what worked in the previous movie. To our surprise, we’re not getting just one but two Predator films from Trachtenberg this year. The first of which is Predator: Killer of Killers, an animated anthology which comes out on June 6 on Hulu, just like Prey did. However, we’re also getting a new live-action movie in 2025, and it’s getting a much-deserved theatrical run. Predator: Badlands stars Elle Fanning, and as the just-released first trailer shows, Trachtenberg might be going big, because it looks like this could possibly be a sequel to Alien vs. Predator.

Dan Trachtenberg Gave Away One Big Plot Detail Already

Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey gave the Predator franchise a kick in the pants after the much-maligned The Predator from 2018. Although Prey went straight to streaming, it was adored by critics, earning a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer. By having the prequel take place in the 1700s, and our lead being a female Native American (Amber Midthunder), it showed that the franchise could go anywhere and do anything.

Earlier this month, the premise was revealed for Predator: Badlands, with Elle Fanning telling the CinemaCon crowd, “Something unprecedented happens in this movie, and my character is not the one being chased. My character actually teams up with the Predator, and you get to see him in a whole new light.”

It was impossible to hear that and not think of 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, which had the heroine, Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan), teaming up with a Predator to battle the Xenomorphs. And now, with the shocking twist in the just-released trailer out there, it’s hard not to think of that movie even more.

The Trailer Shows a Significant Twist to Elle Fanning’s Character

elle fanning is covered in mud and lies on the ground — Image via 20th Century Studios

It’s a bit frustrating how many movies spoil a big twist in a trailer that would have a greater impact on the audience if we were going into the theater blind. Companion comes to mind, for example. Some might argue that the twist is needed to create intrigue and put butts in the seats, so whether you’re for it or not, it’s out there, so let’s talk about it.

Wait, There’s an ‘Alien vs. Predator’ Anime?

There’s apparently more to the Xenomorph vs. Yautja story than we’ve been told.

Instead of going back to the 1700s like in Prey, Predator: Badlands is set in the future. We open on a trophy room of skulls (wait, is that one of the Independence Day alien skulls on the wall?), before being introduced to Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), a Predator who is our hero this time, and cast out from his tribe. We see him in battle and hunting down a mammoth beast, while we get a voiceover from Thia (Fanning), who says, “I didn’t think you survived” and “You’re hunting something that can’t be killed.” Most intriguing, though, is a scene that shows Thia tied up in some branches. Her mouth agape, her eyes gloss over white, and the Weyland-Yutani logo is visible. This is the name of the company at the heart of the Alien franchise, which has long wanted to acquire Xenomorphs, and who manufacture androids. In less than a second, we learn that Thia is not a human. She is, in fact, a Weyland-Yutani android, so once more, we’re getting a glimpse into the shared Alien and Predator universe. Does this mean that Predator: Badlands is a sequel to Alien vs. Predator?

Is ‘Predator: Badlands’ an ‘Alien vs. Predator’ Sequel?

Alexa standing in front of a predator and looking to her righr in Alien vs. Predator — Image via 20th Century Studios

What happens to Thia when her eyes go white and the Weyland-Yutani logo is shown, is her system going into standby, just like we saw happen with Andy (David Jonsson) in Alien: Romulus, but it’s Alien vs. Predator that it has more in common with. In fact, Fede Alvarez, who directed Alien: Romulus, talked about that very idea with Collider back in February, saying:

“I can’t speak for Dan. At some point, once there’s another Alien, and I know he’s working on a sequel to Prey, one day if we feel like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we cannot wait to see,’ I think that’s a movie we could do… “The way I would do it, most likely, if it could be done this way… It’s harder to keep secrets online… The best AVP will be the one that you don’t know is AVP until the other guy shows up. You think you’re watching a Predator movie, and then they land in some place and there are creatures, and fucking hell, it’s a Xenomorph.”

Thia is a little different this time, as she doesn’t have the more posh accent the other Weyland-Yutani androids have had, but just why would a robot and a Predator be teaming together? Will they team up to take on this giant creature or Dek’s clan? Are those human Weyland-Yutani soldiers we see from above in one scene? And if Thia exists in this world, does that mean there could be Xenomorphs? After all, Fede Alvarez said that the best Alien vs. Predator movie is one that you think is just a Predator film. The changing of Thia’s eyes could be a wink at what’s to come.

Let’s hope that Predator: Badlands does tie into Alien vs. Predator in some way. That first film was flawed but fun. However, 2007’s Alien vs. Predator: Requiem was universally hated. Still, it’s a fun world worth exploring and getting right, rather than winking at like Predator 2 did. Everything else has been done in the Predator franchise, so why not try to fix a past idea and make it work this time? Everyone had high hopes for AVP, and it was only a failure in filmmaking that let us down. This doesn’t mean there needs to be fights with Xenomorphs if that’s not exactly where we’re going just yet, but the fun blending of worlds, with Weyland-Yutani in the same universe as the Predators, like in AVP, could open up so many more avenues for Badlands to explore. And if the movie is a success like Prey was, then hopefully we can get another full-on AVP that gets it right this time.