How Hulu's Prey Sets Up Another Predator Sequel
When Predators was developed and then released in 2010 it came with the notion that it would kickstart the franchise and be the first in a set of films, as we know, that didn't happen. The same thing happened with 2018's The Predator from Shane Black, a potential franchise starter that went nowhere. This week sees the debut of Prey, a new film in the series set hundreds of years in the past, and naturally the film is eager to set up more stories in the franchise. Unlike the previous two attempts though it seems like Prey might actually get a proper follow-up. Let's dig into what is being set up and why it might actually happen below. Spoilers Follow!
In large part, the plot of Prey is about Amber Midthunder's Naru, a young Comanche woman that wants to hunt and contribute to her tribe in more ways than just gathering herbs and carrying for babies. As part of a larger ritual she eventually sets out to find and kill the Predator itself, especially after it takes out several members of her tribe, including her brother. Eventually Naru and the beast come face to face and thanks to her abilities not only as a hunter but her familiarity with the terrain she's able to best the Predator, use his weapons against him, and win. In the end she walks back to her tribe carrying the Predator's severed head and covered in his glowstick-like blood. But the story doesn't end there.
Naru's tribe welcomes her back with open arms and declares her the new War Chief. As they begin to celebrate her the film's credits role. Prey's credits, and by extension it's sequel bait, are a little different than you might expect, taking on an animated form and using cave drawing imagery to retell the story of the feature film. When the animated credits arrive at the conclusion of the film though they offer a tease, movement in the clouds that reveal at least three more Predator ships are in route to Earth after the death of the Feral Predator.
A major piece of the puzzle that might tease what comes next in the film is also planted. Naru befriends an injured fur trapper who gives her a flintlock pistol, one that Predator fans might recognize as the very same gun a Predator hands over to Danny Glover at the end of Predator 2. At the end of Prey however Naru still has the gun, meaning that at some point the Predators, or a Predator, will get it from her, potentially setting the stage for a major conflict between the Predator Lost Tribe of Predator 2 and Naru's Comanche tribe.
As for why this seems more likely that a Prey 2 will happen over the proposed sequels to other Predator revivals, it's all in the cost. Though both Predators and The Predator did okay at the box office, they underperformed relative to their budgets and studio interest in the franchise as a blockbuster powerhouse. Prey doesn't have that threshold to meet so much since it's being released on Hulu directly. So long as the audience shows up to watch the movie, talk of a sequel seems inevitable, though that happens with...every Predator movie. Critical reactions to the film have been very high however, currently it has an XX on Rotten Tomatoes, and with the best reviews in the series' history it seems like a given that sequel talk will happen; luckily they've already got a story idea planted.