Elle Fanning is no stranger to sci-fi or aliens in general, but this time it looks like she’s bitten off more than she can chew as the Weyland-Yutani android Thia in the upcoming Predator: Badlands.
The last live-action Predator film, Prey, took us far into the past, with Comanche warrior Naru (Amber Midthunder) discovering a deadly alien threat to her people. By using a setting that was far from what most would imagine for the franchise, it acted as an interesting way to convey just how out of this world a Predator would be. In Predator: Badlands, however, things seem pretty futuristic — but not less lethal.
The new trailer of Predator: Badlands follows Thia, a synthetic who seemingly finds an unlikely ally in Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi’s Dek, a young Predator who has been outcasted by his clan. The trailer show the two of them dealing with the remote planet’s dangerous flora and fauna, from man-eating trees to pterodactyl-like creatures soaring through the skies. As Fanning’s synthetic puts it, they’ve come to “the most dangerous planet in the universe.” And it doesn’t look all too good for them.
As a species, Predators are well-known for their incredible hunting skills and ability to make carnage out of anything and everything. They’re also incredibly intelligent, as shown throughout the many spectacles they’ve made out of their prey throughout the franchise. But it’s rare to see them out of their element to the point they need to team up with someone else, so the unlikely allyship with Fanning has our attention piqued.
That said, it doesn’t seem as though it’ll be an equal partnership at first, if the image of Dek hoisting Thia’s shredded android body up by her neck is any indication. But will that just make their eventual team-up all the juicier? We can’t wait to find out.
Predator: Badlands is directed by Dan Trachtenberg (Prey) and produced by Jon Davis (The Predator), Trachtenberg, Marc Toberoff (Prey), Ben Rosenblatt (Star Trek: Into Darkness), and Brent O’Connorby (Venom: Let There Be Carnage).
Predator: Badlands will open exclusively in movie theatres on Nov. 7. It’s not quite an Alien vs. Predator movie, but it’s certainly paving the way for 20th Century Studios to one day bring that franchise back.
