New footage from Predator: Badlands just debuted at San Diego Comic-Con, features a very cool Alien connection, and draws a clear line between the horror franchise and Star Wars.
Predator: Badlands writer-director Dan Trachtenberg and stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi stopped by Hall H at Comic-Con to screen 15 minutes from the film, and discuss what’s coming with host Kevin Smith.
Hot on the heels of animated Predator movie Killer of Killers – which dropped on Disney+ earlier this year – the new film is “set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia, and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.”
Fanning plays synthetic android Thia, Schuster-Koloamatangi is a Predator called Dek, and their relationship is reminiscent of another friendship in a very different sci-fi franchise.
Predator odd couple is like Chewbacca and C-3PO
Thia spends some of Predator: Badlands strapped to Dek’s back, and during the Comic-Con panel, Dan Trachtenberg acknowledged that their interactions are like Chewbacca’s love-hate relationship with C-3PO in Star Wars.
“But it’s cool because it’s not Chewbacca,” the director added (via Variety). “It’s not a friendly creature that you’re following: it’s the Predator. He is ferocious and badass and very much an anti-hero.”
Trachtenberg also revealed that there’s a key difference between this movie – where the Predator is a protagonist – and previous iterations, where the monster is more villain.
“I realized something that has never happened is the Predator never wins, and they’re supposed to be the greatest hunter in the galaxy.” So expect some Predator success in Badlands.
Badlands features nods to Alien
The fact that the film revolves around an android means Trachtenberg was able to introduce Alien corporation Weyland Yutani to proceedings, saying he wanted to tell a story about a Predator and a robot, “Then I thought, ‘I know someone who makes robots,’ and that, of course, leads to even more cool ideas.”
Host Smith fired back with, “Is this the shape of things to come? You are the Predator guy, and if you’re throwing in Weyland-Yutani, does that mean one day you’re going to be the Alien v. Predator guy as well?”
“That would be cool,” came Trachtenberg’s response. He also screened the first 15 minutes of the movie, which Variety describes as follows:
“The action-packed sequence sets up the dynamics between Dek, a young Predator, who’s the film’s protagonist, as his brother Kwei works to prepare him for the quest that will determine his future in his Yautja clan. The footage features a brutal battle (in more ways than one) that informs the coming-of-age sci-fi story to come in what is sure to be an epic new entry in the franchise.”
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