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“Predator: Badlands” Set to Roar Into Theaters With Rave Reviews, Making the Villain a Hero With a Plucky Sidekick

By The Credits  |  November 5, 2025

Director Dan Trachtenberg is in a serious role. After wowing audiences with his tightly constrained 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) and again with his nifty, beautifully shot Predator prequel Prey (2021), and now this year, his animated Predator: Killers of Killers, which enjoys a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. All this leads us to his current film, the live-action follow-up to Predator, Predator: Badlands, which is hitting theaters today on a wave of bloody great reviews.

Trachtenberg co-created Badlands with his Prey writer Patrick Aison, and it’s receiving some of the best reviews in the 9-film franchise that began with John McTiernan’s iconic 1987 original, Predator, which boasted a killer cast that included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and future The Predator director Shane Black.

In Badlands, Trachtenberg has made a bold gamble, turning the franchise’s primary villain, a young Yautja named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamantangi), a species known to us Earthlings simply as the Predator, and turning him into an outcast from his clan. In a wild effort to prove himself to his people, he takes his brother’s ship and flies to Genna, the most dangerous planet in the universe, to hunt its most mythical, unkillable beast. While on Genna, he meets a Weyland-Yutani synthetic called Thia (Elle Fanning), who convinces him she can help him on his mission. The catch? She doesn’t have any legs, but she’s got brains and guile aplenty. Thus, Badlands becomes not only an adventure movie, but something of a buddy film as well, a definite new direction for the franchise.

(L-R) Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) and Thia (Elle Fanning) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Trachtenberg filmed in the lush environs of New Zealand, where he’d eventually meet another fellow filmmaker well versed in not only the country, but in creating impossible confrontations set on distant planets—James Cameron—who also helmed Aliens, the second film in the Predator‘s sister franchise. Cameraon told him he thought Trachtenberg’s idea for a Predator/synth buddy adventure to take on the meanest alien in the universe could work, giving Trachtenberg the confidence he needed just at the right moment. According to critics, Cameron was right.

“It cleverly pulls at the supposed laws of the series in a way that makes it more interesting without diluting the fearsome nature of the title character. Trachtenberg is making the franchise richer with every instalment,” writes Olly Richards at Time Out.

“The Predator franchise takes a sharp detour into adventure, with its propulsive, creature-filled action matching the polarizing thrills of Yautja innovation,” writes Bloody Disgusting‘s Meagan Navarro. While Screen International‘s Tim Grierson writes, “Reconceiving the iconic sci-fi villain as an underdog hero, Predator: Badlands is a consistently entertaining action-thriller filled with propulsive set pieces.”

Getting right to the point, Variety‘s Peter Debruge writes, “The strongest film with Predator in the title since the 1987 original (Trachtenberg’s earlier Prey notwithstanding).”

Let’s take a quick peek around social media to see what some of the other critics are saying. Predator: Badlands is in theaters on November 7.

Featured image: (L-R) Thia (Elle Fanning) and Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) in 20th Century Studios’ PREDATOR: BADLANDS film. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2025 20th Century Studios. All Rights Reserved.

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The Credits

The Credits is the Motion Picture Association's online platform that profiles below-the-line filmmakers and TV creators. Through in-depth interviews and coverage, we shine a spotlight on all the individuals who are indispensable to the entertainment industry and create the films and series we love.