Latest Predator flips the script

With director Dan Trachtenberg switching creative gears, Predator: Badlands challenges audiences to root for a protagonist who's got few - if any - endearing qualities, but the result really works. By Sandra Visser

- Sandra Visser

The Predator franchise has been through quite a few ups and downs. After the high point of the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring Predator (1987), the series quickly stalled with the disappointing Predator 2 (1990).

It was revived in 2004 with Alien vs. Predator, which combined the Predator and Alien franchises.

More sequels followed, but no one seemed quite sure how to capitalise on the concept until 10 Cloverfield director Dan Trachtenberg's Prey (2022) took the series in a fresh direction by setting it in the past instead of the present or future.

Trachtenberg has now been allowed to run with the franchise, and in the wake of the success of Prey and an animated film, Killer of Killers (2025), which were both released on Disney+, Predator: Badlands has received a big-screen release.

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is a young Predator (or Yautja as the species is called in-universe) marked for death by his father for being a runt who will only bring dishonour to his tribe. Saved from execution by his brother,

Dek escapes to Genna, or the Death Planet, where every plant and animal, from the grass to the herbivores, is lethal.