Predator Badlands' Yautja Dek and his android companion hang from a cliff
By
Cooper Hood
Published 33 minutes ago
Cooper Hood is the Associate Editor for all new movie releases, in theaters and on streaming. In addition to writing articles about these titles and upcoming releases, he also oversees content planning for each, ensuring that ScreenRant continues to cover major releases for months after their release.
He has written various reviews for ScreenRant that appear on Rotten Tomatoes, coordinated Oscars and San Diego Comic-Con coverage, appeared on CNN to talk about Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, and done select interviews with talent over the years.
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Heading into Predator: Badlands, there was a lot of belief that Dan Trachtenberg's latest installment in the sci-fi franchise would deliver a big surprise. After all, he previously shook up the franchise by having Predator: Killer of Killers' updated credits scene reveal Naru (Amber Midthunder), Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), and Hannigan (Danny Glover) in Yautja cryopods.
Seeing three of the franchise's previous leads in containment like this seemed like a clear tease of where the universe was heading. A movie with Naru, Dutch, and Hannigan breaking out and fighting the Yautja again appears to be the big event Trachtenberg is building to. And with Naru considered for a key role in Badlands originally, the odds of her appearing felt high.
After all, including her or other familiar faces from the franchise's past in Predator: Badlands' ending would have tied everything together, setting the stage for an epic next installment. But the film concludes without any surprise cameos. That may have been disappointing to some, but I was relieved.
Major Cameos Would've Taken Away From Predator: Badlands, Not Enhanced It
Naru in Prey
Bringing Naru, Dutch, or Hannigan into Predator: Badlands sounds fun on paper. The chance to see them interact with Dek and Thia would certainly produce some entertaining moments, especially since the humans would immediately view the young Yautja as an enemy, probably leading to a fight between them.
However, that storyline deserved to be an entirely separate movie, not a third-act surprise for Badlands. Their sudden inclusions would've been extremely distracting and taken the story in a very different direction. They don't fit within Dek's revenge plot and Thia's turn from Weyland-Yutani that the movie is really about.
For that reason, it's a huge relief that Trachtenberg avoided succumbing to the temptation of having these cameos. Badlands' conclusion would not be nearly as effective if they had popped up and shifted the focus, even if it was only for a moment.
That'd still be true even if the plan was to have them all work with Thia and Dek to stop Tessa and Weyland-Yutani and eventually face Dek's father. These characters deserve to be focal points whenever they return, not just cheap cameos meant to elicit more excitement.
By keeping Naru, Dutch, and Hannigan out of Predator: Badlands, Trachtenberg now has the time to figure out how to bring them all back into the franchise the right way. Whether that's in a direct sequel or some future crossover event film remains to be seen. Either option is better for them and the series than rushing them back here.
Rather than them becoming minor presences in Dek and Thia's story, Predator: Badlands makes it possible for them all to interact down the road in a story that's completely based on these characters coming together. That will be a lot more fulfilling as a viewer.
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Predator: Badlands
10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 stars 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star Like Follow Followed PG-13 Action Science Fiction Adventure Thriller Release Date November 5, 2025 Runtime 107 minutes Director Dan Trachtenberg Writers Dan Trachtenberg, Patrick Aison, John Thomas, Jim Thomas Producers Brent O'Connor, John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben RosenblattCast
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Elle Fanning
Thia / Tessa
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Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
Dek / Father
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Predator: Badlands
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Predator - Franchise
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