The Predator: Badlands trailer has lastly landed, and with it comes a extremely attention-grabbing reveal that sci-fi followers may wish to rewind and freeze-frame.
Hidden in plain sight is a connection that ties instantly into the Alien universe, and it’s not just a few background prop or obscure reference. It’s entrance and middle, staring you within the face.
At one level within the trailer, Elle Fanning’s character, Thia, experiences what appears like an artificial glitch and her eyes roll again, revealing a well-recognized insignia: the Weyland-Yutani Company brand.
The identical shady megacorp that’s been dabbling in bio-weapons and messing with xenomorphs since Ridley Scott’s unique Alien. The brand is equivalent to the one seen in Alien: Romulus on the character Andy, one other artificial who performed a serious supporting position.
This isn’t the primary time the Alien and Predator franchises have shared cinematic DNA. Method again in 1990, Predator 2 teased followers with a xenomorph cranium casually chilling within the Predator’s trophy room. That tease became actuality with Alien vs. Predator and its sequel within the mid-2000s.
These movies weren’t precisely genre-defining classics, however the concept clearly hasn’t misplaced its enchantment. Director Fede Álvarez has already pitched an Alien vs. Predator movie co-directed by him and Dan Trachtenberg.
Álvarez beforehand shared: “The best way I might do it, most probably, if it may very well be finished this manner… It’s tougher to maintain secrets and techniques on-line… The very best AVP would be the one that you simply don’t know is AVP till the opposite man reveals up.
“You assume you’re watching a Predator film, after which they land in some place and there are creatures, and f–king hell, it’s a Xenomorph. That may get me. ‘F-ck yeah!’ You’d go loopy.”
The director goes on to say: “Or vice versa, you’re in an Alien film, after which all of the sudden a mysterious creature is there, and you may hear that sound, and also you see the cloak, and also you go, ‘Is {that a} f–king Predator?’ After which seems it’s. That may be the way in which to do it, don’t you assume? As soon as you place it within the title, it’s like, ‘Spoiler alert.’”
As for Predator: Badlands, the movie drops in November and this time the director is flipping the script, as a substitute of people going through off towards the enduring hunter, the story facilities on a Predator outcast because the unlikely protagonist. It’s one in every of two Predator initiatives Trachtenberg is helming this 12 months, the opposite being the animated Predator: Killer of Killers.
Now, again to Thia. Her artificial standing opens up a bunch of narrative prospects. The movie takes place on a distant planet, so possibly the corporate sends Thia there to analysis the world.
There’s additionally an opportunity Thia is extra like Andy from Romulus, reprogrammed, empathetic, possibly even protecting of the Predator she crosses paths with. Regardless of the case, we’re taking a look at an unlikely alliance between machine and aline hunter.
Or, possibly Thia is the corporate’s insurance coverage coverage, despatched to make sure their pursuits are preserved, regardless of the associated fee. We’ll ultimately discover out!
The synopsis for the movie reads: “The latest entry within the ‘Predator’ franchise is about sooner or later on a distant planet, the place a younger Predator, outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Elle Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey looking for the last word adversary.”
Predator: Badlands opens in theaters on November 7.
