A few weeks ago, Predator: Badlands arrived in theaters and became one of the most successful films of the action horror franchise. Its box office success and the acclaim by critics and audiences speak for themselves, meaning there’s a high chance that director Dan Trachtenberg could see his vision expand with more sequels and spin-offs. When asked about the future of his Predator timeline, Trachtenberg offers the answer fans are certainly hoping for. Something could be coming, although it’s still a bit early to start talking about it.
Trachtenberg recently sat down to talk with The Direct about possibly continuing the Predator franchise under his direction. It’s still early to pitch another sequel, and Predator: Badlands must first finish its theatrical run for Disney to round up the numbers. However, Trachtenberg reveals that there are “more ideas” to further develop his part of the universe in the beloved franchise:
I think this movie just has to do well, and hopefully it will. But should it? Should it, I would certainly love to make more. There’s plenty more ideas in the hopper, for sure.
Could Trachtenberg Make ‘Alien vs. Predator 3’?
20th Century Studios
In regards to the future of the Predator franchise, without mixing it up with its close relative, Alien, Trachtenberg seems optimistic that he will continue to tell stories about the ruthless alien warrior. His three approaches have been extremely different when compared to each other, but they’re very interesting at the same time.
However, when The Direct asks Trachtenberg if he would like to do a full-blown crossover à la Alien vs. Predator, he doesn’t immediately shut down the idea. Alien: Romulus director Fede Álvarez already teased a collaboration with Trachtenberg to do Alien vs. Predator 3, and when asked about a possible crossover, Trachtenberg remains coy about it:
“For me, the coolest part of it would be grabbing these elements and letting them cook. You know, once again, we don’t want to pull it out of the oven too quickly and have it all just be raw. We really want things to simmer and boil and get up to the perfect temperature. I don’t know. I don’t cook. Too many, too many terms now!”
The director also talked about the relationship between Predator: Badlands and the Alien universe. When coming up with the story alongside screenwriter Patrick Aison, Trachtenberg didn’t have to do much to confirm that the movie takes place in the universe of the xenomorphs. Weyland-Yutani, the nefarious corporation in Alien, has a strong presence in Badlands, but that’s about it. He simply decided not to include the terrifying xenomorphs this time, and this is the reason why:
“Because Prey’ was such a solo survival tale, I wanted this to be a relationship movie. Especially because we were going to have this Predator speaking in a different language and wanted to see it have a dynamic with something and interact, to get more of a window into its insides. Because it wasn’t certainly going to voice them out loud. I wanted to pair him with something, and I knew if we put a human in the movie, then it becomes the human’s movie, and he’s just in it. And T2 already exists, you know? And it was really like, ‘No, we’ve got to make sure that whatever else I put him in there with, he’s still the protagonist.’ And so I thought, a monster and a robot, there’s something that’s really fun about that.
“And then thought, ‘Well, I know a company that makes robots that is under the same technical… I can use them because they’re owned by Fox and Disney, by 20th and Disney.’ And also, these franchises, I’ve touched before. And I just thought, it’s so much cooler. Rather than just grabbing the action figures and smashing them together, it’s so much cooler to take an element from one franchise and fuse that to another. That’s something we hadn’t quite seen before. So that’s how it all kind of came to be.”
Release Date
November 5, 2025
Runtime
107 minutes
Producers
Brent O’Connor, John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
Dek / Father