Why Dek, the Predator in Badlands, Looks So Different From All the Other Yautja

Dan Trachtenberg breathed new life into the Predator franchise with streaming hits Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers, which is why there was so much excitement to see him bring the IP back to theaters with Predator: Badlands. By the time the Badlands marketing campaign revved up, Trachtenberg’s track record spoke for itself, but there was still some skepticism surrounding the project. It’s humorous to look back on now — with Badlands now established as the highest-grossing Predator movie of all time — but in the aftermath of the film’s first teaser trailer, some wondered whether or not the movie could actually work.

People were intrigued by the idea of Drek, the franchise’s first Yautja protagonist who’s the star of Badlands. However, they initially weren’t sold on the character’s design. Shortly after the first teaser trailer debuted last spring, fans expressed displeasure with the look of the Yautja, criticizing it for feeling “very off.” Some went even further by calling it the “Scary Movie version” of the Predator, but there are very good reasons why Dek looks so different from the Yautja audiences are familiar with.

Dek’s Revamped Yautja Design Is a Key Part of the Predator: Badlands Story

Trachtenberg didn’t change the design of the Yautja for the sake of change. The differences in Dek’s design were implemented to better serve the story the director was looking to tell. In the build-up to Predator: Badlands‘ release, Trachtenberg himself described Dek as “the runt of the litter” in his family, establishing the character as an underdog who is on a mission to prove himself. In previous Predator movies, the Yautja featured were depicted as fearsome, unstoppable killers, so Dek was a marked departure from franchise tradition. It wouldn’t have made sense if he looked exactly like the other Yautja from past Predator films.

Not only is Dek a weaker Yautja, he’s also younger than the fully grown adult Yautjas who have terrorized Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny Glover, and more. Audiences are seeing a Yautja at a different part of his lifespan, so it’s only logical for Dek to have a different look. One of the biggest challenges Badlands faced was selling audiences on the premise of rooting for the Yautja after so many movies where the Yautja is the villain. If Dek was the spitting image of the Predator from the 1987 original, it would have been very difficult to get viewers onboard with the idea. Seeing Dek as an unproven, aspiring warrior makes it easier to connect with his individual arc since he’s more vulnerable, relatable, and “human.”

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Dek’s status as the film’s protagonist probably dictated some key changes to his character design. Badlands wouldn’t have worked if audiences weren’t invested in him, so it was necessary to ensure Dek could be expressive to convey the required emotions in each scene. The original Predator design works brilliantly when he’s the threat hunting down a group of charismatic action heroes in the jungle. But when viewers are following him as the main character for the entire movie, there need to be some tweaks. The emotional core of Predator: Badlands stems from Dek discovering a found family in Thia and Bud. In order to properly portray that dynamic of burgeoning friendship, Trachtenberg needed to take steps to make the Yautja design more emotive.

Despite the initial hesitation surrounding the new Yautja design, it’s safe to say it worked out. Predator: Badlands earned positive reviews and was a box office hit, potentially paving the way for an even more exciting future for the franchise. Though Trachtenberg now has a deal in place with Paramount, he still plans to be involved with the Predator IP and has plenty of other ideas in mind. It will be interesting to see if Dek returns now that he’s become a fan favorite. Perhaps there will be a Badlands sequel that moves Dek’s design closer to the original Yautja, illustrating how he has evolved over the course of a couple of movies.

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