Prey Deleted Scenes

Here you’ll find information about any deleted scenes from 2022’s Prey. There were a couple of shots from early teasers and tv spots that weren’t in the final film. Some more deleted scenes have been mentioned in interviews with the cast and crew. There really wasn’t many deleted scenes in Prey. The initial editor’s cut was around 90 minutes and Trachtenberg’s director’s cut was around 90 minutes.

Naru and her Tribe (Source: Trailer)

There were a few shots in the first full length trailer showing Naru and her tribe preparing for battle. This must take place before the warriors go out to rescue the injured member of their tribe.

Chief Kehetu (Source: Julian Black Antelope Interview, Dan Trachtenberg Interview)

There were further scenes between Julian Black Antelope’s character Chief Kehetu, his wife Sumu (played by Stefany Mathias) and his son Wasape (played by Stormee Kipp). Chief Kehetu was dying and he was looking for a successor to lead the tribe.

In one deleted scene, Naru is overhearing Chief Kehetu and his wife talking about needing a new War Chief. There’s a little girl outside who’s trying to tie her bow together so Naru bends down to help her. Naru tells the little girl “Make sure you keep this clean” which was a portent for when Naru falls in the mud later in the film. The girl is the same one that appears at the very end of the film.

In another scene, when Naru falls from the tree and regains consciousness in the tipi, the conversation was going to be with Chief Kehetu rather than her mother. These scenes were all cut as the filmmakers wanted to keep the focus on Naru rather than other characters.

Sunrise (Source: Trailer)

There’s a shot in the trailer showing Naru walking over a field as the sun is rising. This must take place at the start of the film when she sets out her hunt.

Feral Prepares For Battle (Source: Dane DiLiegro Interview, TV Spot)

A scene was shot after Naru leaves her campfire. The Feral Predator appears and pokes the fire with his combistick. He then takes his backpack off and starts loading his weapons. He prepares the net ball and cut clamp and he drops the bolt into the bolt gun. The bolt gun moment can be seen in the early tv spots. This whole sequence was replaced with the Feral vs Wolf scene as the filmmakers wanted to show Feral working his way up the food chain.

Alternative Bear Scene (Source: Angela Catanzaro Interview)

There were some different edits of how the bear was alerted to Naru’s presence. It was scripted that it’s the wind that changes, and the bear smell’s Naru’s presence. When they came to shooting, many of the crew felt it didn’t really make sense so it was changed to a rock falling which alerted the bear. When the film was being edited, again, they felt it didn’t make sense so they reshot it as it was originally supposed to be, with the wind changing.

In that scene, it is. It’s a sound that’s fully in scene, but yes, it takes us then to the bear scene. It does the cut. The bear scene itself was a very interesting scene that changed many times. At first, the bear was with a buck (a deer), and the Predator was also in that scene watching Naru watch the bear and the buck. The bear was on the near side of the river, then the bear was on the far side of the river. Naru knocked down some rocks, and that’s what alerted the bear to her presence. Sarii barked, and that’s what alerted the bear to her presence. We went through so many different versions of what this conflict is between Naru and the bear. We settled on the wind change. That is what motivates her. Once the wind changes, the bear smells her with his keen sense of smell. She knows she’s in trouble and then has to defend herself.

So, ultimately what we settled on was a product of a reshoot too. That shot of the wind change is, oddly enough, I believe, what they were planning to shoot originally. Then, they decided not to on the day that they were going to shoot it, thinking that’ll never work. Then, probably six months later, that’s what they came back to in the movie. I guess the first instinct was right there. Angela Catanzaro

Treetop Chase (Source: Dane DiLiegro Interview, Dan Trachtenberg Interview)

There was going to be a scene before the mudpit sequence. It was scripted and prevized but not shot and featured Naru running through the trees and the Feral Predator is in pursuit in the treetops. They were going to shoot this practically with Dane DiLiegro running on the tree branches. According to Trachtenberg, both Naru and Feral were in the treetops and they were going to fight.