- 20th Century Studios has released the first trailer for Predator: Badlands
- The sci-fi action franchise’s next movie is hiding some big secrets in plain sight
- Its teaser contains an Independence Day Easter egg and strong ties to the Alien franchise
Almost 20 years have passed since the last Alien vs Predator (AvP) movie landed in theaters.
But, based on the first trailer for Predator: Badlands, another installment in the much-maligned crossover film franchise – and an entry that could redeem that movie series in many people’s eyes to boot – might be here sooner than anyone expected.
That’s because Badlands, one of this year’s new movies that’ll arrive on November 7, drops some not-so-subtle hints that it’s an AvP movie in all but name. Oh, and there’s also an unexpected reference to another sci-fi film franchise that indicates that it may exist in the same universe as the Alien and Predator movie series.
But enough waffling! Watch Badlands‘ first teaser below and see if you can spot the aforementioned clues before I explain all.
As you’ll have noticed, there’s a very clear reference to the Alien movies in Badlands‘ first-look footage via Elle Fanning’s character, who’s called Thia.
For those who might have missed it, though: at the 0:25 mark, Thia’s eyes roll back into her head to reveal a telling sign that’s not actually human, but an android.
Thia is no ordinary robotic humanoid, either – as *ahem* eagle-eyed viewers noted a logo imprinted onto the back of her eyes indicating that she was created by the Weylan-Yutani Corporation. That’s the sinister fictional megacorporation that exists in the Alien franchise, which prioritizes profits and experimentation on dangerous alien lifeforms over the lives of its employees.
That’s not the only reference to Weyland-Yutani in Badlands‘ teaser. It’s hard to make out but, at the 0:50 mark, a smashed-up, orange-colored truck can be seen on the right side of the screen – and it’s adorned with the Weyland-Yutani logo too.
Oh, and before I forget: scroll back to the very start of the teaser and, amid the other skulls that are hung on the wall of what’s likely the Predator’s dwelling, look closely at the skull sitting at the center of the collection. Look familiar? That’s because it’s the skull of one of the aliens in the Independence Day film franchise.
Neat, eh? Although, that now begs the question of whether those movies also exist in the same universe and the Alien and Predator films…
Why Predator: Badlands could secretly be the third entry in the Alien vs Predator movie series
Of course, those Weyland-Yutani Easter eggs could be nothing more than simple reminders that xenomorphs (the aliens in Alien) and the yautja (the actual name of the Predator species) exist in the same universe. However, wouldn’t it be cooler if, at some point, Badlands performs a narrative bait and switch and turns into an AvP film?
Awful though the previous two AvP movies are, I certainly hope so – and that’s down to the individuals who have revived the Alien and Predator series, two stalwart film franchises of the ’80s and ’90s.
Dan Trachtenburg, who directs Badlands, is also the filmmaker behind 2022’s Predator prequel movie Prey. That flick, which is available on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally), is a film I labeled as “the best Predator movie since the 1987 original” in my Prey review.
With Trachtenburg also on directing duties for Badlands, I’m confident he’ll deliver back-to-back brilliant entries as part of his wider Predator franchise reboot. Indeed, Prey and Badlands notwithstanding, another Predator film – an animated anthology flick called Predator: Killer of Killers – will also make its debut this year. It’ll be available to stream at home from June 6.
As for the Alien movies, filmmaker Fede Alvarez gave us that franchise’s best installment since 1986’s Aliens with last year’s Alien: Romulus. With a sequel to that big-screen offering currently in development, the future looks similarly bright for the xenomorph and facehugger-starring sci-fi horror film series.
Okay, but what’s all of this got to do with the possibility that Badlands is actually an AvP movie? The trailer’s Weyland-Yutani nods aside, Alvarez has previously outlined what he’d like to see from a new AvP film.
Speaking to Collider in February, the Argentine said: “The way I would do it [a new AvP film], most likely, if it could be done this way… It’s harder to keep secrets online… The best AvP will be the one that you don’t know is AvP until the other guy shows up.
“You think you’re watching a Predator movie, and then they land in some place and there are creatures, and f*****g hell, it’s a Xenomorph. That would get me. ‘F**k yeah!’ You’d go crazy.
#PredatorBadlands arrives in theaters and IMAX November 7. pic.twitter.com/6LIzcYbg54April 23, 2025
“Or, vice versa,” Alvarez continued. “You’re in an Alien movie, and then suddenly a mysterious creature is there, and you can hear that sound, and you see the cloak, and you go, ‘Is that a f****g Predator?’ And then turns out it is. That would be the way to do it, don’t you think? Once you put it in the title, it’s like, ‘Spoiler alert.'”
When pressed by Collider as to whether he’d ever team up with Trachtenburg to make such a film, Alvarez added: “I can’t speak for Dan. At some point, once there’s another Alien, and I know he’s working on a sequel to Prey, one day if we feel like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we cannot wait to see, I think that’s a movie we could do.”
Is all of that Alvarez’s coded way of suggesting Badlands could be another AvP film? Probably not, but I live in hope that I’m wrong!
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