With Predator: Badlands, director Dan Trachtenberg makes his third entry into the Predator franchise after helming 2022's Prey and 2025's Predator: Killer of Killers. But despite elements of the Alien series making their way into Badlands, he wanted to make sure he incorporated them in an "elegant" way (even if he thinks it would be "cool" to be the "Alien vs. Predator guy").
"I think sometimes people that are dabbling in cinematic universes, there's a seduction to grab all the action figures and smush them together. And I really didn't want to do that, and really wanted to make sure that if we ever do something, it would be a little bit more elegant," Trachtenberg said during the movie's panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 when asked about the Alien references in the movie.
