Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg has mentioned protagonist Dek is like Mad Max and Conan the Barbarian.
The 44-year-old filmmaker defined the character – a Yauja hunter portrayed by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi – was impressed by the stoic outcasts from the Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring motion flicks.
Talking with Empire journal, Trachtenberg mentioned of Dek: “He’s a factor of few phrases, fairly blunt. He cuts straight to the purpose. Actually and figuratively.”
The director added Dek was seen because the “runt of the litter” amongst his clan, and Trachtenberg wished audiences to root for the character – who would be the first Yautja protagonist within the Predator sequence as a substitute of the primary antagonist.
Trachtenberg defined: “That looks like a giant concept, not simply inside Predator, however in sci-fi usually.
“In most sci-fi universes, the ‘creatures’ are both dangerous guys or sidekicks. In [Predator: Badlands] it’s, ‘What should you have been with the creature on this loopy mission to show itself, seeing every part by way of its eyes?’”
Seeking to the longer term, Trachtenberg – who helmed 2022’s Prey and the 2025 animated film Predator: Killer of Killers – revealed he had a 3rd, unannounced concept for a Predator challenge.
He mentioned: “After Prey, I had three concepts. One was Killer Of Killers, one was Badlands and one … I haven’t achieved but.
“So, there are different superior concepts and time durations it’d be thrilling to discover, and all that’s been a part of our dialogue for [what’s next].”
Predator: Badlands follows the younger hunter Dek (Schuster-Koloamatangi) after he has been outcast from his clan and despatched to a distant planet the place he types an unlikely alliance with Thia (Elle Fanning) because the pair seek for the final word adversary.
The director beforehand mentioned he had taken a “massive, loopy swing” with the upcoming motion blockbuster – which is slated to hit cinemas on 7 November.
He informed Bloody Disgusting: “It’s a giant, loopy swing, and I feel that’s what drives butts into seats.
“If you would like the identical outdated Predator expertise, you may hit play on Predator or Prey or another, whichever one is your match.”
Though the director didn’t reveal any particular particulars concerning the character Fanning was portraying, Trachtenberg defined he had used story ideas from video video games like Shadow of the Colossus to create Thia and the dynamic she has with Dek.
He mentioned: “As impressed as I’m by films, I’ve been very impressed by video video games [like] Shadow of the Colossus, the place you might have a protagonist paired with another person who supplies colour and connection.
“There’s a factor with a horse in Shadow of the Colossus that’s devastating whenever you play the sport. And so [Predator: Badlands] was a little bit bit impressed by that by way of desirous to see the Predator with another person, this character who’s the other of him.
“He’s very laconic, [Thia] shouldn’t be. She’s succesful in methods that he’s not. Bodily, she’s received an actual factor that I’m so excited for you guys to see. However I need to let finally a few of that talk for itself.”
Trachtenberg added Predator: Badlands can be extra character-driven than earlier Predator movies, and would centre on the titular alien hunter.
He mentioned: “I by no means thought [the Predator] was Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger. They’d a code [like] hitmen or crime underworld Goodfellas.
“I felt like there was one thing cool to discover inside that tradition that’s totally different than simply including a bunch of stuff on high of it. It felt like we’re mining [concepts] versus simply throwing [more] on the franchise.”