20th Century Studios has finally unleashed the first-look teaser trailer for Dan Trachtenberg‘s “Predator: Badlands” starring Elle Fanning as the new footage reveals that her character Thia is teaming up with a young deadly alien hunter in an off-world setting, something we haven’t seen in the franchise since the Robert Rodriguez produced “Predators.”
We’ll see this new predator character played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in more of a protagonist role as the hulking hunter has teamed up with humans (although footage is teasing that Thia is a Weyland-Yutani android like Andy, with the company logo in her eyes) before, but have been more or less situational partnerships. How this will ultimately come together remains to be seen, but the visuals in the trailer are exciting, along with plenty of new Yautja (the alien species’ canonical name) lore, creature designs, including new armor and weapons.
What is new here is that it takes place in the future, a first time for “Predator” movies, which might allow for a link-up and connective tissue with what the studio is currently doing with their “Alien” franchise down the road.
A logline for the new sci-fi horror actioner courtesy of 20th Century:
Set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.
This is the second live-action film for Trachtenberg, after the streaming exclusive “Prey“, and is also behind the upcoming anthology animated film “Predator: Killer of Killers” that is heading to Hulu on June 6.
“Badlands” isn’t the only project in the works connected to the “Alien” and “Predator” universe at 20th Century, as director Fede Álvarez is working on a follow-up to “Alien: Romulus,” and has teased an interest in co-directing a new “AVP” crossover film with Trachtenberg.The presence of Weyland-Yutani in “Badlands” feels like it is planting seeds for that.
Not only has Fede spoken up about a new Alien/Predator crossover, but 20th Century Studios head Steve Asbell was directly asked about this by THR last October and said they would “probably” end up doing it in a completely different way than in the 2000s.
“It wouldn’t be in the way you think. That’s the thing. Not in the way that it will just be called ‘Alien vs. Predator‘ or anything like the original movies. If we do this, they’ll be organically created out of these two franchises that we’ve continued with characters that we fall in love with, and those characters will combine…perhaps. But we haven’t gotten to that point. And we’re not just going to bang it out,” Asbell said of a new “AVP” attempt.
You can watch that impressive teaser trailer for “Predator: Badlands” below, which will be heading to theaters on November 7.
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