Badlands Is Officially Flipping A 21 Year Old Crossover On Its Head In The Best Way

20th Century Studios has recently released a new trailer for the upcoming film Predator: Badlands, and it excitingly confirms that the franchise is going to take a long-established crossover in a completely new direction. The release of the new trailer revealed that Elle Fanning’s character, Thia, is a Weyland-Yutani android. Fanning teased at CinemaCon that her character teaming up with a Predator would be “unprecedented,” but fans of the series were quick to point out that a human had previously teamed up with a Predator in 2004’s Alien vs. Predator.

Now, the new Predator: Badlands trailer has indeed shown that Fanning’s Thia will be teaming up with a Predator. The trailer shows a smaller-than-normal Yautja hunting and being hunted on an alien planet while Fanning says that he is “hunting something that can’t be killed,” proving that the two may need to defeat their formidable enemy together. While there is still much that is unknown about the upcoming movie, what audiences have seen so far creates a whole new type of Alien and Predator crossover.

Predator: Badlands Is A New Type Of Alien Crossover After The AvP Movies

Predator: Badlands Does Not Seem To Include The Usual Alien Enemy

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The reveal that Fanning’s character is a Weyland-Yutani android is a massive reveal for the Predator franchise because it makes Predator: Badlands a true crossover film that expands on Alien vs. Predator. Weyland-Yutani is one of the biggest villains throughout the Alien franchise, and their androids have often caused problems for the human characters in Alien films due to their need to follow company directives. A Weyland-Yutani android appearing alongside a Predator, then, deepens the shared universe of the two franchises.

Based on the footage that audiences have seen so far, there has been no sign of Xenomorphs, implying that Thia’s reason for being on the Predator’s planet is something else entirely. While seeing Yautja and Xenomorphs fighting in the Alien vs. Predator movies is entertaining, Predator: Badlands will be able to explore more of Weyland-Yutani’s business and motives and how that may impact other alien species through Thia. At the same time, it will still be able to focus more on the series’ first Predator protagonist and his story.

Predator: Badlands Is Actually An Alien Team-Up Movie, Not A Versus Film

Thia Will Need To Work With The Predator

In addition to the new reveal that Predator: Badlands would tie into the world of Alien, Fanning had already revealed that the characters would team up. Predator: Badlands will be the first time that characters from the two franchises work together instead of opposing each other. While it was initially assumed that Fanning’s character would be a human, her character’s android reveal makes the movie even more exciting. Even if the Xenomorphs do not make an appearance, the two will surely have a big enemy to overcome.

What’s more, Predator: Badlands creates an interesting opening for Weyland-Yutani to become even bigger players in future Predator films, depending on when the movie is set. The timeline of the Alien vs. Predator movies and whether they are canon does have some debate as Prometheus retroactively changed the origins of the Xenomorphs, but Predator: Badlands has now doubled down on the shared universe between the two. Since the previous two crossovers have hinted at Weyland-Yutani’s gains from Predator technology, it will be interesting to find out whether the team up will have honest motives.

Predator: Badlands’ Alien Crossover Story Is Better Than Another AvP Film

The New Film Feels Much More Original

Seeing the Yautja and Xenomorphs fighting in Alien vs. Predator and its 2007 sequel were cool and did break new ground for both franchises at the time, simply making Predator: Badlands a repeat of Alien vs. Predator would not have been very exciting. Audiences have already seen the two alien species face off twice — a third would not be necessary. Since it would not have made sense to have the Yautja and Xenomorphs team up either, seeing technology from the Alien series make its way into a Predator’s world was the best way to combine the two.

A Weyland-Yutani android interacting with a young Predator is much more clever than simply moving the setting and forcing the two alien species to fight again. It feels like a fresh take on two franchises that have been around for decades, especially considering that both Alien vs. Predator movies were not well received by critics. It also highlights the sheer flexibility of the Predator franchise and the number of stories the franchise can explore, either in creating new alien or human enemies or by intersecting with other science fiction franchises like Alien.

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Predator: Badlands’ Independence Day Easter Egg Explained

Predator: Badlands includes a surprising connection to Will Smith’s 1996 alien movie Independence Day, which creates some intriguing possibilities.

The chronology of the Alien and Predator movies can be a bit confusing, and it is yet unknown when in the established timeline Predator: Badlands will take place. Given that the ending of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem saw Ms. Yutani get control of Predator technology in 2004, long before the setting of other Alien movies, it could be quite far in the future. Predator: Badlands, then, is a new chance to show off the hunting skills of the titular species along with a technologically advanced Weyland-Yutani ally that could change the direction of the series.

Predator: Badlands

Release Date

November 7, 2025

Director

Dan Trachtenberg

Writers

Dan Trachtenberg, Patrick Aison, John Thomas, Jim Thomas

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