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Predator: Badlands Set Report Confirms New Details, PG-13 Rating

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Screenrant has published a very detailed set report of their visit to the Predator: Badlands set in New Zealand during shooting. It confirms quite a few things. There are no human characters in the film – the Weyland-Yutani soldiers we see in the trailer are all synthetics. The article covers a lot of the different Predator weapons we might see and also confirms that Predator: Badlands is aiming for a PG-13 rating.

We just saw a quick glimpse of Thia’s sister, Tessa, in the final trailer with a group of other Weyland-Yutani synthetics. Trachtenberg spoke about making Thia and Tessa look different:

In addition to Thia, Elle Fanning also plays her “sister” synth, Tessa, Weyland-Yutani’s latest model. Making the synths simultaneously heroes and villains, Tessa is among a group of militaristic synths and research synths sent to understand the planet and capture the Kalisk for themselves.

To distinguish Fanning’s characters, Trachtenberg had some clear goals set out for hair and makeup artist Susie Glass: “They’re identical, but there has to be a point of difference. Thia has been on a real journey… Dan was very clear that he wanted to see some damage without it going down the whole big prosthetic route. … And then, of course, we had to find a Tessa who had to look the same but different.”

Predator: Badlands Set Report Confirms New Details, PG-13 Rating

Tessa

They’ve also spoken to special effects expert Alec Gillis, whose studio StudioGillis, is handling the creature effects. He mentions a monster sidekick named Squirt, which I think is Bud – the little creature we saw from the NECA figures. You also see a glimpse of the creature in the film attacking a synthetic.

To highlight this, Gillis passed around a silicone model of Predator: Badlands’ lovable yet deadly new monster sidekick, Squirt. “So one of the ideas we had was, what if [Dek]… finds a life form that is this sort of snake-like character that he can coax, somehow train, that sits on his shoulder, and it has this ability to spit two chemicals that when they combine in the air, they become explosive and fiery. So that’s what got him nicknamed Squirt.”

Predator: Badlands Set Report Confirms New Details, PG-13 Rating

Bud

The article goes into the Predator weapons they saw on set. I don’t think we’ve seen the shoulder cannon yet, but it is mentioned. The Predator will also improvise weapons. Thia’s missing legs also return to her torso at some point and they attack the Weyland-Yutani synthetics as a duo.

Here are some of the weapons and gadgets we were able to see on set:

  • The Predators’ glowing red sword
  • The Predators’ glowing red bow and arrow
  • Predator sniper rifle
  • Thia’s earpiece to download information, a tool to heal herself, and a syringe to extract Yautja blood
  • Plasma caster
  • Bandoliers with Cryo Grenades

However, we’ll also see the Predators’ ability to improvise and adapt the world around them into weapons of destruction. At one point, “[Dek] comes across a vulture and he cuts the beak off… and then uses that, cuts it down, and he puts it onto his gauntlet. … He’s starting to introduce some of the natural fauna into his weapons.” Dek may be small, but he’s smart, and that’s one way he’s greatly underestimated.

The biggest news, and unfortunately, I don’t think this will come as a big surprise. Predator: Badlands will be the first solo Predator film to be rated PG-13 rather than an R, due to the fact that there are no humans in the film – just Predators, synthetics and monsters.

If all goes according to plan, Badlands will be the first Predator movie with a PG-13 rating rather than R. “Our hope for it is that it can be a PG-13 that feels like an R. That’s kind of our hope… being able to broaden out the audience for a movie like this.” With no human blood amid all the action, avoiding that R rating becomes more justified.

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Comments: 58
« Newer Comments 12 Older Comments »
  2. Corporal Hicks
    Posted
    Bloody Disgusting's set visit -

    QuoteThe other thing I love in movies, and that I think really links you to characters, is seeing them try. The secret sauce of the Mission Impossible franchise is that Tom Cruise is not James Bond, who can handle everything with grace. He's failing constantly. The fun of him is always floundering through whatever the sequence is, but then being awesome. So there's a lot of failure for him, but then he awesomely overcomes."

    Not sure if we've heard is playing Kwei yet?

    QuoteNever mind that the ship was stolen from Dek's older brother Kwei (Mike Homik); Kalisk is far from the only dangerous flora and fauna inhabiting Genna.

    QuoteDek's underdog status means that he comes armed with weapons that aren't suited to his size, nor do they survive, forcing him to get resourceful on Genna. Props master Matt Cornelius shows off some of the classic Yautja weaponry that'll be employed in Badlands, noting that even they handicap Dek's quest. "He's what you could call a junior, and these weapons are all based on the family design, so when we do see the father and his brother, Kwei, they're a lot bigger. Especially the sword, when he's wielding the sword on Genna. Pretty tricky for him, because again, it's something he's not used to. Keen but maybe not the master."

    So Bud & Squirt are 2 different creatures.

    QuoteTwo creatures in particular, dubbed Squirt and Bud, sport adorable names but pack a mean punch for Dek's enemies.

    I'm liking this concept of Dek re-arming himself with native stuff, like the beak and the Squirt. Sounds odd, but interesting. Curious to see how it's executed!

    Quote"The lead Predator has his equipment, but it is stripped away from him in the crash by the life forms that are on this planet. We had this idea that what if he recreates his weaponry through the use of organic things on the planet? They've got the classic Predator shoulder cannon. What if he finds a lifeform that is maybe this sort of snake-like character that he can coax, that sits on his shoulder and has this ability to spit two chemicals that, when they combine in the air, become explosive and fiery? That's what got him nicknamed Squirt. This was a little character that we designed, and he's sort of a snake-like guy. But this sits on the Predator's shoulder, and then he wraps the tail around his arm."

    Bud is played by Ravi Narayan.

    QuoteWhile Squirt operates more like a traditional weapon, Bud is Dek's new alien friend who shouldn't be underestimated despite his cute stature. To say more would risk spoiling the surprises with this little weaponized ally. Expect a wily critter, accordingly to stunt coordinator Jacob Tomuri. He explains, "We've got Ravi Narayan playing Bud, and he's a performer that I've known for a long time. We had Bud running around, beating people up, and jumping off things in wire-assisted rigs."

    regarding the rating and the blood -

    QuoteIf that sounds too lighthearted for a Predator movie, don't worry; Trachtenberg and team are putting Dek through a grueling gauntlet. With so many synths, Yautja, and various creatures of Genna brawling to the death, expect a colorful array of blood splatter this time, from neon green to milky white to purple and beyond.

    Rosenblatt teases, "We don't have any humans in the movie, and so we don't have any human red blood. We're hoping that's going to play to our advantage. Which is a way of answering your question, how hard are we going to go? We're going to go as hard as we possibly can within those constraints, and we think we'll be able to do some pretty awesomely gruesome stuff, but colors other than red."
    Reply
  3. T-R-E-V
    Posted
    Welll...this info just confirmed that Badlands is probably going to be as notorious as Alien: Earth has been for some people, if it isn't already.

    But the reasoning makes sense...no red stuff to spill, & the synths don't necessarily have to use harsh language. 😛
    Reply
  5. pmaz11
    Posted
    Trying to stay away from the trailer and any other footage until the movie comes out..

    But hearing the PG-13 news, I had maybe hoped the movie would have more red blood for some creatures and add to the more R content for that reason alone. Maybe even the language from Thia or the synthetics perhaps.

    Or on the very off chance, that there would be humans working for Weyland-Yutani or something that do show up & being left from the cast. But highly doubted that one.

    Still, I'm excited and want to see it. I am however a stickler somewhat for wanting R rated movies in general, especially in the Alien and Predator franchises (just feels right next to the titles/posters/etc.). So, oh well with this one & AVP. I do enjoy AVP overall, I'll watch the unrated version (at least we got it haha) to help on that end ;D
    Reply
  7. Mr.Turok
    Posted
    Quote from: Yautja888 on Oct 06, 2025, 08:37:01 PM
    Quote from: Rankles75 on Oct 06, 2025, 08:28:00 PMLot of overreactions to the rating on here. I'm shocked, I tells ya...  ::)

    It's not the rating, it's the whole family friendly tone a la Star Wars. How can you take Trachntenberg seriously when he says it's like Conan, and it's PG 13. Unless he meant Conan the Destroyer  :laugh:

    We are getting monsters getting split belly up, decapitations, huge explosions, and just general violence, idk what the hell is any of that "family friendly."

    It feels "family friendly" because even in animated cartoons, long as its aliens, robots, or monsters getting the treatment and the blood isn't red, it's given a pass. Give humans the same treatment and you see that shit get smacked as adult real quick.

    I mean for f**k sakes, I've read the SDCC First 15 mins preview and nothing in there has anything "family friendly" and barely shares anything of "family values" either. It gets f**ked right at the get go.

    Then again I don't expect logic from the same dude who said sexist shit about Naru and said that Disney is gonna Disneyfy Prey and that shit struck a home run. People here just gotta learn to tune your ass out real quick.
    Reply
  8. RoguePred1987
    Posted
    its all pretty easy to understand.

    now that its officially confirmed by the set visits that the central skull on the wall is a Harvester, can we get the word out there so people can stop it with the War of the Worlds nonsense?
    Reply
  9. RIP77
    Posted
    This same film, with the same violence, would be R-rated with humans.
    That's why there will be more violence than in a movie with humans like PREY.
    Another issue is tone.
    TDK is adult, being PG13, like other Nolan films like Dunkirk.
    Badlands is pulp, like the Mandalorian.
    And that wouldn't change  with  R
    Reply
  12. funk_master_chunk
    Posted
    Given the reactions, I hope it gets a f**king U rating now, you know.

    Sonicify Dek to give him big googly eyes and have Thia sing songs of love and wonderment as hordes of doe-eyed aliens come and stitch her legs back on for her. Then turn Njhorr into Dek's wicked step mother who sent Kwei off to naughty boy school for not finishing his homework.

    "A whole new wooooorld (of hate),
    A new fang-tastic yautja tooo"
    Reply
  13. exorcissy72
    Posted
    QuoteIt's not the rating, it's the whole family friendly tone a la Star Wars. How can you take Trachntenberg seriously when he says it's like Conan, and it's PG 13. Unless he meant Conan tge Destroyer  :laugh:

    Because the original Conan stories aren't really that R rated and the things that would make them R rated is nudity.

    But again, ratings really don't matter to me. The two AvP movies are not good movies, but their quality has nothing to do with their ratings. AvP would still have heaps of problems even if gore was everywhere, and AvP: R would still not work if it was toned down.
    Reply
  17. acousticboogaloo
    Posted
    Not sure why anyone would expect a movie that doesn't have a single human to be rated R. So strange how stuff like this is a hill people die on when we've known so much of this information for almost a year now.
    Reply
  21. Yautja Lore
    Posted
    I don't know what to make of the rating news, honestly. It doesn't diminishes my excitement for the movie in any way, but it does feel kind of weird to have a pg-13 Predator movie.
    Reply
  23. yaujta
    Posted
    I'm honestly not as fussed as I thought I would be with the rating, I was really was hoping for something rated r with an apocalypto style of brutality, but since the reveal of no humans at all it got me thinking it'll be headed for pg13/12a....so I'm not surprised and as I said I'm not disappointed, there's still plenty room for kills etc with this rating, and we're promised a great skull-rip so I'm still hoping for this to be awesome 😁😁
    Reply
  26. Martin
    Posted
    It's everything people joked Disney was going to turn Predator into when Disney bought Fox.

    An "epic" four quadrant sci fi adventure comedy film with a humanized Predator, a sassy sidekick, a bunch of cutesy critters, bad action, bad effects...just bad everything.

    I hate this.
    Reply
  27. GoroPredator
    Posted
    Squirt is basically Baby Yoda on steroids, the film itself looks meh but admitely vaguely more interesting in concept than Prey was but that PG rating..... its just...... no, congrats on fully Disneyfying the franchise.  Looking forward to another PG AVP movie, you know damn well if this film is successful enough the studio will force it. 
    Reply
  28. Nightmare Asylum
    Posted
    I don't even know what kind of level of violence would have to be inflicted on fictional creatures and robots in order for the MPA to even think about giving it an R, honestly. I don't see this movie being watered down from what one would expect from a core Predator experience at all, based on the footage we've seen.

    This isn't an AVP '04 situation with some creature suits wrestling WWE style and some humans dying totally bloodless deaths.
    Reply
  30. acrocanth
    Posted
    No human characters pretty much guaranteed PG-13. It's not a surprise. I don't mind the rating as much as I'm still a little conflicted about a Predator film that seems to have literally zero humans involved - I honestly think that might be the biggest departure and fresh approach here, regardless of things like predator designs, a predator being the protagonist, etc.

    I think it works for this particular type of story, but it also still feels really weird to think there will be no human stakes, violence or death. Any conflict and emotions will pretty much rest squarely on Dek's character and performance.
    Reply
  31. Nightmare Asylum
    Posted
    PG-13 is fine. There literally is not a single human being in the film. You can push creature and synthetic violence as far (or even farther) in a PG-13 as you can human violence in an R.
    Reply
  34. The Shuriken
    Posted
    Well, I was just about to voice my disdain for the pg-13 rating. But in a movie with no humans, all the gore is related to alien creatures and synthetic robots. So that's just creature violence.

    Eh, could be worse.
    Reply
  35. Corporal Hicks
    Posted
    From Collider -

    QuoteA major obstacle was how Dek would talk in the movie. Gillis is a self-proclaimed proponent of practical effects and makeup, but as he and his team were trying out different methods to show off Dek's face and how he talks, especially with his mandibles. They tried out a mixture of makeup and animatronics, but as they continued experimenting, one thing became very clear.

       " It was good. But I had to be the first to say, 'I don't, I think we can do better. And I think that we can do better through digital enhancement.' And that's where WETA Digital comes in. Because right around the time we were doing that test, we got to see the Planet of the Apes movie. And that has such spectacular performances. It's undeniable. As an artist, I have to stand up for my craft, but I also have to be able to look a director in the eye and say, 'you have to use the right tool for the right application.' And if I'm going to ever complain like, 'oh, that looks fake, that looks like CGI' or whatever. I have to, conversely, be able to steer a director away from the shortcomings of the practical approach. And this has been a great opportunity for me to kind of be included in the digital approach as well. And then we sort of lift these barriers that are artificially created between the practical effects artists and the digital artists, and we are just character artists at this point."

    Collider are also bringing up Dek being blind -

    QuoteAnother aspect that proved to be quite the process was for Dek's eyes, as the character is blind in one of his eyes. Predator eyes are already pretty distinct, the striking yellow with a single black pupil, and contact lenses were needed for both Dimitrius and his stunt-double. However, because of how physically demanding the role was, Glass had to make sure to request that the contact lenses had a clear bit painted around the pupil, with the stunt double's being even more visible.

    And another synth character we haven't heard about -

    QuoteGlass had also teased another synth character, Abe, whom she called the "hero synths," noting that the character was designed as a nod to Michael Fassbender's David and Walter characters from the Alien franchise.

    QuoteTrachtenberg also reiterated Rosenblatt's comment from earlier, calling Badlands an "adventure movie," one of the ways that it will differ from Prey, saying:

        "..trying to continue to combine a sometimes very composed, sometimes very whimsical, but then also sometimes docu style, like really, really maintaining the combination of those things. Prey had a little bit of that because it did have, there was still an adventure movie quality to it. This movie is way more adventure-focused. But the fun of the buddy relationship really does demand to be some whimsy. For me, it never supersedes the really grounded vibe to everything."

    Trachtenberg also talked about Gillis' involvement in the film and his experience with the franchise, helping the movie still stay true to both the Predator and Alien franchises. He didn't ever want the film to feel "too Star Wars-y" or "too Star Trek." He pointed out that many of the shapes that compose Star Wars are much more square, whereas Predator has a more rounded approach in its visual language. He compared Dek to the classic character of Conan the Barbarian, saying:

        "Another thing I would say is for his behavior and giving him more personality, but it's still feeling predatory. For whatever reason, there's always been a link to me with Conan. Tor what, thinking of what their culture is like, but also the way he behaves, is he's a very terse character, a few words, but they say a lot. And there's something in the fabric of that world, that's fantasy, but brutal, pirate-y also, , that's different than Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, or Avatar, pick any sci-fi thing. There's something in the Conan vibe that feels right for when we're digging into the culture."

    Image Link

    I guess that sword shot from the ScreenRant article was the writer.

    QuoteWhen it came to designing the Predators' outfits, Dickson called their style "timeless," and the fact that the film is set so far into the future didn't really affect how they styled their armor. Especially since Dek is viewed as "not Predator" material by his father, especially compared to his brother Quay.
    Reply
  39. funk_master_chunk
    Posted
    I'm a bit gutted (no pun intended...) that this is likely going to be a 12A this side of the pond - but truth be told, if this is the first step into the 'AvPverse' proper, then the films would likely feature less human-oriented violence and will likely hook the kids to rebuild the franchise over the next few years when said kids are a bit older and are more than capable of watching their first beheading.

    Between Prey, Killer of and this - we've eaten very well over the past couple of years thanks top Dan T. So yeah, as long as the film is good, it's not too bad that ot's a PG-13/12A; but a few bits of actual gore would've been great.
    Reply
  42. Rankles75
    Posted
    Quote from: Darkness on Oct 06, 2025, 04:23:28 PMSome interesting quotes.

    I take it this is referring to Bud.

    QuoteTo highlight this, Gillis passed around a silicone model of Predator: Badlands' lovable yet deadly new monster sidekick, Squirt. "So one of the ideas we had was, what if [Dek]... finds a life form that is this sort of snake-like character that he can coax, somehow train, that sits on his shoulder, and it has this ability to spit two chemicals that when they combine in the air, they become explosive and fiery. So that's what got him nicknamed Squirt."

    Somebody's been watching How To Train Your Dragon... :)
    Reply
  44. Krycek2
    Posted
    As long as the synths spill a bunch of milky blood, it doesn't matter with the PG13 rating. I recall in the first AVP the Predator bloodshed, Celtic's head bite etc, would have been R rated but the blood was green, not red.
    Reply
  45. GreybackElder
    Posted
    Interesting about the PG-13 rating. Honestly, there are some really great action/fantasy films that are PG-13, the Lord of the Rings come to mind. There is plenty of orc dismemberment which makes it feel less kid friendly. I guess my point is an R movie doesn't automatically equal good movie. Sure, it would feel more of a predator movie if it was an R rating although if it's good or great I can give it a pass.
    Reply
  49. RoguePred1987
    Posted
    The potential PG-13 rating shouldn't be a shock to anyone at this point. We've known for a long time now there wouldn't be any humans in the movie so, short of some profanity, the R-rating was out the window.
    Reply
  50. Corporal Hicks
    Posted
    Quote from: Preydator on Oct 06, 2025, 04:50:20 PMExtremely interesting read. I'm not particularly worried about the PG-13 rating, since it appears it will mostly be about Dek murdering the entirety of the extraterrestrial fauna of Genna, so they can get away with it. I'm just hoping we'll get some cool kills!

    That was my initial reaction to that possibility too - but then I remember that also being copium when it came to AvP's rating. I do hope we get some good intensity of creature gore in this.

    So Bud/Squirt is a baby dragon??  :laugh: I still remain apprehensive of his inclusion. Fingers crossed it works!

    New bts still I think ?

    Image Link

    It's confirmed that the skull on the trophy wall is absolutely an ID4 reference.

    QuoteAfter Fanning finished, we got to climb aboard the ship and analyze the intricate details on every wall and crevice, including the trophy room filled with skulls of the Predators' past kills. In addition to a dinosaur skull, Ben Rosenblatt told me his favorite Easter egg on the ship is the skull of an alien from the 1996 sci-fi movie Independence Day, begging the question of whether a crossover movie is in order.

    This set visit keeps going on about Dek only having one eye??? Have we missed this?
    Reply
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