Dan Trachtenberg’s live-action follow-up to 2022’s much-acclaimed “Prey.” While that movie took things back to the distant past, this new entry in the franchise will take us deep into the future. It also, very evidently, is going to deliver a big sci-fi crossover, possibly even building out a new cinematic universe. Get ready for a new “Alien”/”Predator” shared universe.
The first “Badlands” trailer introduced us to Elle Fanning’s character, an android named Thia. Eagle-eyed fans noticed that her eyes featured a Weyland-Yutani logo, referencing the company that produces androids in the “Alien” universe. That seemed to be laying the groundwork to bring these universes together for the first time since the “Alien vs. Predator” movies in the early 2000s. This latest trailer makes it unquestionably clear that’s exactly what’s happening.
For one, we see Thia in bad shape with the words “Weyland-Yutani” appearing on screen in plain sight. The final shot of the trailer also features Thia and her young Predator friend squaring off against a big robot machine not unlike the loader from the end of “Aliens.” Without coming right out and saying it, it’s obvious what’s happening here. The studio is also keeping the specifics largely under wraps, as the official synopsis, which reads as follows, keeps things pretty vague:
“Predator: Badlands,” which stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.
