4 Crucial Predator Mythology Questions Unanswered by Badlands (And When They Might Be Revealed)

This weekend, the Predator franchise got its seventh mainline feature film and the third in a row directed by Dan Trachtenberg in Predator: Badlands. The new film marks a major departure for the series, one that not only has a Yautja himself as the main character, but one that features no human characters at all across its runtime. In Badlands, the franchise has taken a surprising direction, revealing that the series that appeared to have one type of structure across all its other movies was actually much more malleable than fans ever dreamed. Furthermore, Predator: Badlands made it clear that the franchise’s mythology is still expanding and important.

With not only new pieces of Predator lore to consider and expand the scope of the series, Predator: Badlands also makes sure to give sci-fi fans new nuggets for the Alien franchise, too. That said, the ending of Predator: Badlands is one that leaves the franchise in a unique place, where its future is uncertain, and some details about the larger lore are unacknowledged. It’s left us considering some of the mythology and where it’s headed. Spoilers for Predator: Badlands will follow.

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4) What Year Does Badlands Take Place?

At no point in Predator: Badlands is it ever really made clear what year all of this is even taking place. Though the answer to this question is unclear, there are clues, the biggest of which is the inclusion of the Weyland-Yutani corporation and its tech, specifically, the computer MU/TH/UR. First seen in Alien, this supercomputer has appearances across the Alien franchise timeline, including Alien: Covenant, set around 2104, and Alien: Romulus, set around 2142. In short, Predator: Badlands could be anywhere in that realm of years, or perhaps even further out.

Normally, that wouldn’t be that big of a deal (it’s a sci-fi movie that stars a Predator after all), but considering the franchise is being positioned in a way where connectivity is more important than ever, it’s a question worth knowing the answer to. Given how tight the larger narrative of these new Predator movies and their vague connections are (more on that in a second), knowing where this lands in the larger timeline of the franchise (and the Alien franchise to boot) is something fans will want to know.

3) How Does the Clan From Badlands Connect to Killer of Killers?

Predator: Killer of Killers marked a major point for the franchise as it went to the Predator homeworld and gave us a macro look at the culture that happens there. In the animated anthology movie, The Grendel King is revealed, an elder Predator with a magnificent cape, who is the leader of the Warlord clan. This specific clan is seen to be where all of the Yautja seen in Killer of Killers hail from, and the size of the clan is even bigger than expected when the final minutes reveal countless hunters pursuing the fleeing humans.

That said, Dek’s father in Predator: Badlands, called Njohrr, is also a powerful warlord on Yautja Prime, the same planet from Predator: Killer of Killers. Despite an opulent ensemble in all his scenes and a slew of powerful weapons at his disposal, the final moments of Badlands appear to reveal that Njohrr’s clan is not as well off as the Warlord Clan from Killer of Killers. The humble homestead in the conclusion isn’t exactly a palace, and the number of guards present is small. This makes us wonder what connectivity, if any, they have to each other. Is Njohrr a fief to the Grendel King? Are they unrelated at all? We have no idea, not yet at least.

2) Where’s the Game Preserve Planet from Predators?

Ever since Prey was released in 2022, it has been made clear that filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg was going to keep Predator franchise lore close to his heart. Though references to the first two Predator movies have abounded across his films in the series, there’s been no reference to 2018’s The Predator (perhaps for the best) nor 2010’s Predators (an underrated entry in the franchise). In that film, Predators kidnap noteworthy killers from other planets (in this case, mostly Earth) and bring them to a big game preserve planet to hunt them for sport.

No mention of the game preserve planet has been noted at all in Prey, Predator: Killer of Killers, or Predator: Badlands. It’s not the biggest piece of lore that demands an acknowledgement, but it’s still interesting nonetheless. One key connection that could explain it, despite its absence, is that the sky on the game preserve reveals it’s surrounded by other planets, one of which could be Yautja Prime, the homeworld seen in Killer of Killers and Badlands. That said, the planet remains unacknowledged.

One reason that there has been no mention of Predators or its game preserve planet is that the film also has a key subplot not touched by any other Predator media: the rivlary between the Super Predator clan and other Predators. It’s unclear if this story will ever be told, or if Super Predators will ever make their return, but the good news for Trachtenberg is that if he ever wants to explore this corner of the lore, it’s just sitting there waiting for him.

1) What About the Ending of Predator: Killer of Killers?

This summer, the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers delivered the most exciting ending for the franchise in over thirty years. Not since Predator 2 teased that the Yautja were hunting xenomorphs has the series so clearly set up its next big story, only for the future of that narrative to be largely uncertain.

Upon release, Killer of Killers ended with the tease that Naru from Prey had been captured by the Predators and was being held in stasis…for reasons unknown. This summer, the movie got an addendum to that ending, revealing that Danny Glover’s Mike Harrigan from Predator 2 and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch Schaefer from the original Predator had also been captured.

Dan Trachtenberg has made it clear that the Predator franchise is building towards something, and that the Killer of Killers ending, along with our new friends in Predator: Badlands, will meet when the time is right and the story makes sense. That said, the only real connection to be found between that ending and Badlands‘ own conclusion is that they’re set on the same planet. How they align beyond that is unclear, and perhaps is something best left as a surprise, despite being an uncertainty after the movie.