The first look at Predator: Badlands has arrived like a plasma blast—fast, bright, and instantly polarizing. Dan Trachtenberg returns after 2022’s lauded prequel Prey, which broke streaming records on Hulu and Disney+. But this time, the director trades the Great Plains for a ragged alien wilderness and shifts the spotlight onto the hunter itself.
Watch the official trailer for Predator: Badlands from 20th Century Studios below:
Related: The Canceled Disney Alien Vs. Predator Land: What Could Have Been
Dek, a young Predator or “Yautja”, is played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. Banished from his clan, he stalks an unforgiving planet alongside Thia (Elle Fanning), a Weyland-Yutani android whose presence quietly reconnects the Predator and Alien franchises. Disney’s log-line calls their trek a search for “the ultimate adversary,” suggesting the pair may end up crossing blades—or claws—with something even deadlier than a standard human platoon as seen in previous Predator films.
However, Trachtenberg’s boldest gamble is a visual one. Despite the film appearing to mirror Prey in terms of style and tone, the new Predator appears surprisingly slight rather than bulky, his mandibles tuck tighter, and those trademark dreadlocks replaced by streamlined tendrils that sway like biomechanical cables.
But this new look hasn’t gone unnoticed by fans.
Some longtime Predator enthusiasts appreciate the evolution; while others have posted that the hunter now looks “too human.” Meanwhile, comments on X (formerly Twitter) have spiraled into hateful rhetoric littered with racism and bigotry.
Whether the sleeker design becomes the franchise’s next evolutionary step or a misfire, one thing’s certain: Badlands is bound to be make an impression at the box office.
Two Brand-New Predator Movies
Predator: Badlands isn’t the only new entry to the franchise. An upcoming animated film titled Predator: Killer of Killers drops on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally) June 6, pitting three different historical warriors against separate Yautja. Trachtenberg is directing that project too, making 2025 the most Yautja-packed year so far.
Watch the trailer for Predator: Killer of Killers from 20th Century Studios Canada below:
“The anthology story follows three of the fiercest warriors in human history: a Viking raider guiding her young son on a bloody quest for revenge; a ninja in feudal Japan who turns against his Samurai brother in a brutal battle for succession; and a WWII pilot who takes to the sky to investigate an otherworldly threat to the Allied cause,” The Walt Disney Company synopsis for Killer of Killers reads. “But while all these warriors are killers in their own right, they are merely prey for their new opponent — the ultimate killer of killers.
Predator: Badlands releases in theaters on November 7.
What do you think about the new look for the Predator in the Badlands trailer? Share your thoughts in the comments down below!
Bold? Looks like Mike Obama.