A new Alien vs. Predator crossover project is looking increasingly inevitable, with multiple different directions and concepts it could venture into. Following an extended rut for both, the Alien and Predator franchises have individually been on fire as of late, with Alien surging to renewed popularity following 2024’s Alien: Romulus and the Hulu streaming series Alien: Earth. The Predator franchise has also managed its own big comeback with 2022’s Hulu hit Prey, following by the animated anthology Predator: Killer of Killers, both setting up great anticipation for Predator: Badlands under returning Prey director Dan Trachtenberg. The only area where Alien and Predator have not fully rebounded has been the Alien vs. Predator crossover franchise, though all signs (particularly in Predator: Badlands) point to another such meeting of the two iconic aliens being on the horizon.
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While the first two Alien vs. Predator movies are not generally regarded with high esteem by fans of both franchises, their individual comebacks show a number of ways in which the third attempt at an Alien vs. Predator movie could finally stick the landing. Here are three concepts the next Alien vs. Predator project could utilize to great success.
1) Dek Leads a Xenomorph Hunt After Predator: Badlands
Predator: Badlands is debuting with the genuine novelty of making a Yautja hunter into its hero, namely a Yautja known as Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). Dek is a warrior looked down up by his people and exiled from the Predator culture onto another planet, where he must survive the world’s population of ravenous creatures. He also teams up with Weyland-Yutani synthetic human Thia (Elle Fanning). This premise could set up Dek as the perfect Predator to lead the next big-screen hunt of xenomorphs.
The entire theme of Predator: Badlands is built upon Dek’s mission to prove himself a warrior worthy of Yautja culture in order to be accepted by his people once more. With the multitude of formidable enemies both alien and human that Dek is set to face in Badlands, his survival would surely be the ultimate victory in proving all those who doubted him wrong. In turn, arguably the highest honor for Dek to be bestowed with is leading a group of his fellow Yatuja into a new xenomorph hunt, which could form a very strong foundation for the next Alien vs. Predator crossover.
2) Xenomorphs Are Unleashed on the Predator Homeworld
Despite the Predator’s long history as an iconic movie alien, the Yautja’s home planet has been very fleetingly shown on screen. Essentially, the Predator’s home planet has only been seen once when the veteran hunter Wolf departs to clean up the xenomorph outbreak on Earth in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. While other planets utilized as hunting grounds by the Yautja culture have been seen in Predators and Predator: Killer of Killers, neither seems to have been the Predator’s home world, or planets the Predators have actively colonized. The next Alien vs. Predator crossover can change that by bringing the xenomorphs to the Predator’s home turf.
Either as a result of a plague of xenomorphs being unleashed on the Predator’s home planet or one xenomorph stowing aboard a homebound Predator ship a la Alien 3, an outbreak of xenomorphs on the Predators’ home planet would kick off the stakes of the next Alien vs. Predator crossover dramatically. Rather than a rite of passage like most Predator hunts, the Yautja would find themselves in a battle for their own survival like never before in having to eliminate the xenomorphs set loose upon their home world. Such a premise for the next Alien vs. Predator could also actively build upon Dek’s protagonist role in Predator: Badlands, placing the audience in the position of actively rooting for the Predators for a second time, and even potentially bringing Dek himself back for the battle to save the Predator’s home planet.
3.) Flip the Predator: Badlands Script – Make the Xenomorphs the Good Guys
As much of a twist as it is for Predator: Badlands to make a Predator into its hero, the next Aliens vs. Predator could throw an even crazier curveball into the mix by making the xenomorphs the alien protagonists of the story. Admittedly, with the xenomorphs lacking the ability to speak and other anthropomorphic qualities (to say nothing of their inherently vicious nature), it would be quite trickier to make them into heroes or even anti-heroes, but far from impossible. The next Alien vs. Predator would simply have to frame the Yautja hunt from the xenomorph’s perspective as one of aggressors encroaching on their territory, possibly even something like the xenomorph’s own home planet (itself an unrealized concept for Alien 3 back when Renny Harlin was attached to direct).
The Alien vs. Predator project could also supplement the xenomorphs being reframed in a more sympathetic light with a synthetic human character like Thia who empathizes with the xenomorphs as simply sentient lifeforms trying to survive, and possibly even hoping to set up a sanctuary of sorts for them on a planet distant from Earth. If audiences are soon to see a Predator like Dek as a protagonist, it only seems right that the xenomorphs should have their own opportunity to be shown in a new protagonist light. The next Alien vs. Predator movie could be just the place to make a wild idea like that work.
New episodes of Alien: Earth are released on Hulu on Tuesdays, and Predator: Badlands will be released in theaters on November 7th.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
