Predator: Badlands is the ninth entry in the Predator saga — comprised of seven primary films and two crossovers with the Alien universe — so viewers might wonder where this new movie sits within that sprawling timeline.
Thankfully, director Dan Trachtenberg has made Predator: Badlands imminently approachable. You don’t need extensive franchise knowledge to follow the story beyond a basic understanding that Predators (referred to as Yautja in the film, a name first popularized in Steve Perry’s 1994 novel Alien vs. Predator Prey) are hunter-warriors who employ advanced weaponry and cloaking technology. Familiarity with the Alien side of the shared mythos adds context — chiefly the shady Weyland-Yutani corporation and their Synthetic agents — but the film makes it clear who the antagonists are without requiring prior viewing.
Part of the film’s accessibility comes from where Trachtenberg chose to place it on the franchise timeline: well into the future. In an interview with IGN, he explained the practical reason — he developed Badlands before seeing Fede Álvarez’s 2024 Alien: Romulus and Noah Hawley’s 2025 series Alien: Earth, so he couldn’t responsibly tie his story to those continuities. He also opted not to link Badlands directly to his own earlier Hulu projects, Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers.
“We’re cognizant of how, in this day and age, with all the media that we have, some of it can feel like homework,” Trachtenberg said. He wanted to avoid forcing audiences to revisit a long sequence of prior entries just to follow the new film.
The solution was straightforward: place the story far enough ahead that earlier events can remain background history rather than required viewing.
Predator: Badlands premieres in theaters on .
Source: Polygon
