Predator: Badlands Teaser Trailer Breakdown & Easter Eggs

Now that we’ve had time to digest last week’s Predator: Badlands teaser trailer, let’s take a deep dive and breakdown the teaser scene by scene. Predator: Badlands is the second Predator/AvP film to be set in the future (Predator 2 was seven years into the future) and the second instalment after 2010’s Predators to be set on a different planet. Predator: Badlands tells the story of a young Predator known as Dek.

Predator Trophy Room

The iconic trophy room returns and we can see the various creatures the Predators have previously hunted aboard a Predator ship. Notably, we can see a human skull on the left and a Tyrannosaurus rex skull on the right. Interestingly, the skull in the middle also resembles the aliens from 1996’s Independence Day – a film made by 20th Century Fox.

Thia – Played by Elle Fanning

The leaked casting call mentioned that the lead actress would be playing two twin sisters – Thia and Tessa. It mentioned that she had spent most of her life in a laboratory and this is her first big adventure in the world. She is incredibly smart, witty, enthusiastic and fearless due to her naivety.

We’re still not sure from the media released so far if there are two sisters. I believe the three scenes in the teaser featuring Elle Fanning are all the same character – she’s wearing the same jacket with a Weyland-Yutani logo on the shoulder.

At some point, Thia is wrapped in vines and we can see her eyes roll back, indicating that she is a synthetic. In the other two scenes, we can notice that a lilac substance is on her jacket and her hair. Thia does team up with our lead Predator, Dek in the film. Director Dan Trachtenberg said he was inspired by the video game Shadow of the Colossus, where “you have a protagonist paired with someone else who provides color and connection.”

The Weyland-Yutani Connection

A surprise in the trailer was the references to the company Weyland-Yutani that is featured predominantly throughout the Alien franchise. This is the first time a solo Predator film includes references to the ‘company’. If Predator: Badlands is in the future, it does make sense that Weyland-Yutani would be involved.

The Weyland-Yutani logo can be seen imprinted in Thia’s eyes when her eyes roll back. Andy from Alien: Romulus had the same imprint in his eyes when he is rebooted in the stasis chamber. The Weyland-Yutani logo is also on Thia’s shoulder. Later in the teaser, we can see the Weyland-Yutani logo on crashed vehicles when we see our lead Predator about to battle a huge beast. The yellow truck has the words Weyland-Yutani Corp on the side.

Dek – Our Lead Predator

Dek is the name of our ‘hero’ Predator in Predator: Badlands. The Predator is played by New Zealand stunt actor Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, who wore the costume and did motion capture. Dek’s most notable feature is that his dreadlocks are tied back.

Dek is a young Predator and is said to be an outcast from his clan. Dek chooses the planet Kalisk, also known as the Death Planet, for his hunting ground to prove his father wrong and get back into his clan.

The Planet

The only other time we’ve seen a planet other than Earth in a solo Predator film was 2010’s Predators. Early parts of the teaser show Dek flying in his spaceship over the surface of a planet. Part of the film does take place on the Predator homeworld – aka Yautja Prime.

So it’s possible this baron, dusty planet is the Predator homeworld – it would have to be hot. There are scenes, though, featuring a sea and forests. Most of the shots in the teaser are definitely his hunting ground planet Kalisk. The teaser features some wonderful shots of the planet(s).

Dek Tools Up

We can see Dek tooling up. He retrieves a dusty, long unused, Predator mask and later see him laying out some Predator weapons in the forest. It looks like a Medi-Kit, some small spherical gadgets, possibly a bow and a combi-stick.

Toxic Flora

Dek can be seen escaping from some toxic flora on the planet that emits a pink substance when approached.

Vine Attack

The final scene of the teaser sees Dek fighting killer vines – this has been confirmed as his first challenge, so that scene must take place earlier in the film.

Predator vs Predator Battle

At some point, Dek battles another Predator – both of them duelling with red swords. I would say Dek ultimately wins the battle.

Dek Battles Huge Alien Creature

One of the momentous moments in the trailer was the full reveal of Dek carrying the red sword amidst wrecked Weyland-Yutani vehicles. A huge four-legged alien creature leaps around the fog as Dek prepares for battle.

I’m not 100% sold on the design of Dek – I think it’s the CGI eyes I have an issue with, although on the whole, I think it’s better than Feral. I still think it’s a far cry from the quality of Jungle Hunter and City Hunter and just how realistic Stan Winston’s creations were when we first saw them.

Elder Predator

In the teaser, we see an Elder Predator with white dreadlocks. In the first picture, he’s carrying a red sword and there is a bike behind him – something we’ve not seen the Predators use before. In the next shots, we see an injured Predator still alive on the ground.

The Predator on the ground is already missing an arm, and it looks like he was carrying a similar red sword. I don’t believe the Predator on the ground is Dek – I would say it’s the Predator above that Dek was duelling. We later see, presumably the same Predator, being tossed off into a huge cavern and his red sword falling alongside him.

Human Characters

Along with Elle Fanning, we got a glimpse of dozens of other human characters in Predator: Badlands. They were carrying guns and were approaching Dek who was kneeling down near a facility. Clearly, the planet hosts a large Weyland-Yutani base and these soldiers are part of the ‘company’.

That’s my analysis of the teaser trailer. The Weyland-Yutani connection is intriguing, to say the least. Is it possible that all this is actually building towards a new Alien vs Predator film? AvP as a franchise has been completely dormant since 2007’s AvP Requiem was released with only occasional comics and novels released since then.

Although last year, the president of 20th Century Studios, Steve Asbell, did hint that it’s possible a new crossover could happen, though it wouldn’t be called Alien vs Predator – it’d be organically created between the two series featuring already established characters. That suggests to me that we could very well see Thia appear in a solo Alien film.

Predator: Badlands will be released November 7, 2025.

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