'Predator: Badlands' Director Shares New Details About Film & Describes It As "Relationship Story"

Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg shared new details about the upcoming film and described it as “relationship story.”

Speaking to Empire, Trachtenberg revealed that the film follows a young Yautja named Dek who carries around the upper torso of a Weyland-Yutani synthetic on his back as he engages in an epic monster hunt.

First, he explained why he went this direction instead of a direct sequel to Prey, “You immediately think: Prey 2. But with sequels, people sometimes get so caught up going, ‘This could happen next,’ they never stop to think, ‘Should it happen next?’ Prey was special because it was this big idea that hadn’t existed before. I wanted the next thing to be that, too.”

From there he described the film as “a kind of buddy-comedy” and that in contrast to Prey it is a “relationship story.”

He added, “It’s like a Ray Harryhausen movie. This crazy adventure against monsters and the elements — only this time it’s a badass Predator against those things. We wanted Dek to be relatable, but without turning him into Luke Skywalker. He’s still a Predator — we had to allow him to be a dick. But a dick you can root for.”

The official description for the film states, “The newest entry in the Predator franchise is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.”

The film arrives in theaters on November 7, 2025.

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