Predator Prequel Setting and Timeline Officially Confirmed

One of the year’s more anticipated horror titles is Prey, a prequel in the Predator franchise, which is set to debut on Hulu later this year. While audiences have had a rough idea of the timeline and setting of the project, 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell recently offered a few more details about exactly when and where the new film will take place. The film comes from 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg, who had largely kept the film under wraps, though the excitement surrounding reports of the film’s production ended up revealing that the project was happening earlier than he had anticipated.

“In order to meet the volume that we are looking at — which is, by 2023, 10-plus movies just for streaming — it’s going to be a combination of originals in those genres. And coolest of all for fans, we get to find bold takes on beloved Fox properties,” Asbell shared with The Hollywood Reporter. “You can take big creative swings — which you’ll see with Prey, which we’ll launch this summer. A Predator movie set in the Great Plains in 1719 by Dan Trachtenberg. That’s what this allows us to do.”

In the years since the original Predator first hit theaters in 1987, the franchise has attempted to recapture the magic of that premise, which saw a group of commandos colliding with the otherworldly threat in a remote jungle. The sequel saw the threat head into an urban area, while Predators put another group of survivors up against the threat in a jungle setting, though this time it was a planet specifically populated by victims for the aliens to hunt.

The series has also earned two crossover films with the Alien vs. Predator series, in which humans were largely witnesses to the collision between the iconic creatures.

Producer John Davis previously teased the tone of the film and what will make it different from its predecessors yet in line with the franchise.

“It goes back to what made the original Predator movie work. It’s the ingenuity of a human being who won’t give up, who’s able to observe and interpret, basically being able to beat a stronger, more powerful, well-armed force,” Davis explained to Collider last summer. “It actually has more akin to The Revenant than it does any film in the Predator canon. You’ll know what I mean once you see it.”

Prey is expected to debut on Hulu later this year.

Are you looking forward to the new movie? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars