Predator: Badlands May Have Deeper Alien Connections Than You Think (& It Involves Elle Fanning’s Two Characters)

Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg shares details about the film’s connections to the Alien franchise. Speaking with Empire as part of the outlet’s preview coverage, the filmmaker talked about the decision to make Elle Fanning’s character Thia a synthetic designed by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. Looking to change up the established franchise formula, Trachtenberg was interested in making a Predator film without any humans. Ironing out that idea, he wanted to have the main Yautja team up with a robot. This gave Trachtenberg an easy way to connect his new movie to the Alien series.

“I always wanted no humans in this movie, so I thought it might be fun to have the Predator with a robot,” Trachtenberg said. “Then I thought, ‘I know a company that makes robots…’”

Trachtenberg then shed light on the dynamic between Thia and the main Yautja, Dek. “One talkative, one laconic. As exciting and violent as this movie is, the character stuff really pops, too,” he said.

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The first Predator: Badlands trailer confirmed the film’s Alien connections by subtly revealing Thia is a synthetic. Thia is just one role Fanning has in the movie. Her second character has yet to be revealed.

Predator: Badlands is part of Trachtenberg’s larger overall plans for the Predator franchise, which also included June’s Predator: Killer of Killers animated feature and a mysterious unmade idea that’s yet to get the green light. By bringing Alien elements into the fold in Badlands, some fans have speculated a new Alien vs. Predator film could be in the works. There have been two such crossover films in the past, most recently Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in 2007.

Because the Alien and Predator franchises already had an established history with each other, the Weyland-Yutani connection in Badlands feels like an organic, natural expansion of that concept. It would arguably be stranger if a different corporation was making the robots, as if the filmmakers were going out of their way to avoid including specific Easter eggs. It will be interesting to see how deep the Alien tie ins go. If a Weyland-Yutani synthetic is on the scene, the infamous company is likely up to something. In previous Alien films, Weyland-Yutani robots typically have ulterior motives and put the best interests of the corporation first and foremost. That can create perilous situations where the robots are more responsible for the damage than whatever creature the rest of the characters are running away from.

It’ll also be fascinating to see Fanning’s second character, which is seemingly being saved for a big reveal. She could be portraying another Weyland-Yutani synthetic. The same actor has played multiple synthetics in past Alien films; for example, Michael Fassbender played both Walter and David in Alien: Covenant. Perhaps one of Fanning’s characters is an older companion model to the other. Based on Trachtenberg’s comments, she likely isn’t playing a human, so another robot is probably the most plausible scenario. Maybe Fanning’s dual roles will lay the foundation for an Alien vs. Predator crossover event.