Fans finally got their first look at Predator: Badlands, the latest installment in the sci-fi action series. The movie is believed to be a solo film, similar to the popular 2022 film Prey, and will be directed by Prey‘s Dan Trachtenberg, with Elle Fanning playing the lead. Along with the first image, Empire reports that the film will provide a huge twist to the franchise by making the Predator the hero of the plot.
“The creature is front and centre, leading the charge,” Trachtenberg said. “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.”
The decision to make the Predator the main character sprang from the filmmaker’s ambition 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.” This kind of thinking clearly evolved into the grand idea of rooting for the Predator.
Predator: Badlands will continue the franchise’s decade-long tradition by putting the extraterrestrial hunter in a new setting and following several human protagonists as they fight for survival. Hopefully, like Prey, it will produce significantly better results than many (most?) of the Predator series to date. Unlike Prey, Predator: Badlands will be distributed in cinemas (rather than streaming) next year when it debuts in November.
Not only are Predator: Badlands and Prey 2 in development, but so is another unknown project. Rumors have circulated that this new project will be an animated anthology series for Disney+, telling a trilogy of distinct stories set in different time periods.
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John Pallister
I'm all about having fun in geek culture, but keeping my family safe!
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