20th Century Studios/Getty Images
Following the success of Prey in 2022, 20th Century Studios essentially handed the keys to the franchise to director Dan Trachtenberg, as he has not one but TWO Predator movies releasing this year: the animated feature Predator: Killer of Killers on Friday, June 6, and the live-action, Elle Fanning-starring Predator: Badlands in November.
The release of the Predator: Badlands trailer earlier in the Spring signaled a massive shift in the franchise’s scope as it’s not only moving the action from Earth to the Yautja’s homeland, but Elle Fanning is playing a Weyland-Yutani synthetic, a.k.a the androids from the Alien franchise.
20th Century Studios certainly isn’t shying away from the Alien elements in Badlands, as it not only features a Weyland-Yutani “synth,” but also features a classic Predator trophy wall scene that seemingly features multiple types of Xenomorph skulls. Even Trachtenberg himself is leaning into the Alien lore building, as he wore a Weyland-Yutani branded hat to BeyondFest in Los Angeles over Memorial Day Weekend.
Speaking to BroBible’s Post Credit Podcast ahead of the release of Predator: Killer of Killers, we asked Trachtenberg about the speculation regarding the Alien franchise tie-ins, and what skeletons fans are actually seeing in the Badlands‘ trophy case — specifically, we mentioned a Xenomorph, Xenomorph queen, and an Engineer (from Prometheus).
“I think I saw… there are really fun easter eggs in that trophy room. I think I saw a lot of people not getting it right. And then I saw some people getting it right,” an understandably guarded Trachtenberg said of the trophy room in the Badlands trailer.
“But what about Blade Runner?” we asked. “Is that also a part of this universe?” (in Aliens, it’s shown that the Dallas character in Alien worked for the Tyrell Corporation, the evil corp. in Blade Runner)
“It’s worth mentioning that our composer for Killer of Killers is Benjamin Wallfisch who is incredible and has made a great score for Blade Runner 2049 and we temp with him all the time. I think Ridley [Scott] said something about them being connected — I personally feel that they are very, very, very connected,” Trachteberg told us.
“Steve Asbell who runs 20th Century Studios I think feels differently. Also, they can never really be connected until they were under the same movie studio. There is a bit of a difference in Replicant and Synth, you know? Even Replicant itself is muddy and the way we’re meant to think of them. And all of these can change per whoever is the author at the time. But I’ve always certainly felt very spiritually connected.”
Predator: Killers of Killers hits theaters on Friday, June 6, while Predator: Badlands will release on November 7. You can check out the trailer for Killer of Killers below. Also be sure to check back later in the week for our full interview with Dan.
Content shared from brobible.com.