Late last year we knew that Dan Trachtenberg was directing a sequel to the out-of-nowhere streaming (it should have been released in theaters, motherfuckers) hit Prey (2022), but then news dropped that he was releasing a secret project before Predator: Badlands hits on November 7, 2025. As it turns out, this film is an animated anthology project featuring human beings facing off with Predators (the Yautja, for those in the know), across the centuries. Well, it’s on Hulu as I type this, and I just have to say, so far as the Predator franchise looks going forward, “In Trachtenberg I trust.”
The first episode of Predator: Killer of Killers is set in 841 Scandinavia and is called “The Shield.” It follows Viking warrior Ursa (Lindsay LaVanchy) as she leads her clan and her son Anders (Damien C. Haas) on a mission of vengeance against the warlord who killed her father years earlier. Part two, “The Sword,” is in 1629 feudal Japan and is the nearly silent tale of two brothers, one the samurai Kiyoshi, the Kenji (Louis Ozawa voices both brothers) a ninja, battling over childhood betrayals. Then, part three, “The Bullet,” is set in 1942 during World War II in the Atlantic theater, as a grounded U.S. Navy pilot, Johnny Torres (Rick Gonzalez), tries to save his squadron from a mysterious alien aircraft. Then, as an unnamed final installment, the survivors of each story wake up on the Yautja homeworld and are forced to battle in a Predator Arena.
In a bit of nerd trivia, Torres’ commanding officer Vandy is played by Michael Biehn, who joins the Hat Trick Club with Lance Hendrickson and Bill Paxton all of whom have appeared in all three of the biggest 80s sci-fi franchises, Terminator, Alien, and Predator. Congrats, Mike!
Predator: Killer of Killers is one of the first films to be developed using the Unreal Engine and was co-directed by Trachtenberg and Joshua Wassung, from a script by Micho Robert Rutare, based on story concepts by Rutare and Trachetenberg. I wouldn’t be surprised if these stories were all pitches Trachtenberg came up with that were initially rejected by Disney/Hulu due to financial restraints, before he landed Prey. That could have just as easily been a chapter in this film, as each of these stories could have easily been expanded to feature length adventures.
Each of these installments brilliantly utilize the animated format to really lean into the brutally violent action, easily earning its R-rating. It’s nice to see another sci-fi franchise, along with Alien, not shying away from the R for more family (and box office) friendly PG-13s. The Terminator franchise dipped its toe into the PG-13 pool and delivered two of its most disappointing installments before returning to the R for Termintor: Dark Fate (which was better than you think).
I don’t want to dig too deeply into the plots in order to avoid spoilers, but suffice to say, our three main characters survive their initial encounters, only to be captured, placed in suspended animation, and reawakened to battle it out in a Yautja arena before the Predator King – a never before seen character that not only serves as an impressive and frightening Big Bad, but also expands on the Predator Lore in a way that the films rarely do.
And if you were wondering about that enigmatic final scene of Prey where the Yautja ships reappear approaching Naru’s (Amber Midthunder) tribe, we do get a nod to what happened next as Killer of Killers wraps up with an ending reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark (that maybe also has an easter egg for the end of the original film).
To sum up, Predator: Killer of Killers is a Predator fan’s dream come true, especially after 2018’s The Predator nearly killed the franchise (making it the almost killer of killers elite). Dan Trachtenberg proves with this film that Prey wasn’t just a fluke. He knows how to really make the concept sing and I cannot wait to see what Predator: Badlands adds to the franchise lore. Predator stories work the best when we get just enough character development to let us empathize with our heroes without bogging down the narrative and letting the action and adventure take the forefront. We don’t need big, overly thought-out science fiction concepts beyond what that initial film gave us. Its enough to just give us a variety of Yautja tribes with their own different abilities and enhancements.
The Yautja are a species that hunt other species, choosing to choose the most dangerous targets in order to bring glory to themselves and their clans. Do we need to know where their technology comes from? Not really. It might make for an interesting story (and was probably explained non-canonically in the myriads of comics and novels released over the past nearly forty years), but it’s not needed. We don’t need every aspect of these iconic films to be broken down and explained in boring and ultimately unsatisfying franchise expansions.
In the vein of what I just wrote about From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, what we need are solid action-adventure stories with characters we can root for overcoming (in this case) the technological and physical advantages that the Yautja bring to the table. The honor system that they work under means that whatever stories we get are going to be tales of bad ass warriors facing off against creatures beyond their wildest imaginings.
And that’s what puts butts in seats. Keep it simple, stupid.