Predator Fans Are Worried About Badlands For One Big Reason

Fans are voicing their displeasure with the teaser trailer for Predator: Badlands. The loyal fans of the Predator franchise have been eating well these last few years, with filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg the driving influence in its success. Trachtenberg directed 2022’s straight-to-Hulu movie Prey, and he’s back to helm Predator: Badlands starring Elle Fanning. The teaser trailer gave a glimpse at what fans can look forward to in Predator: Badlands, including a new Predator in the surprising role of protagonist. This “heroic” Predator, in particular, is a hot topic among fans, with a lot commenting on its visual look, and not in a positive way.

After the Predator: Badlands trailer was shared on Reddit, the comments filled up with fans knocking how the Predator looks, most notably when it had its helmet off and you could see its face. “That predator design is hilarious lol. Is this like the Scary Movie version of a predator movie?” the first comment reads. From there it’s just negative comment after another.

“Yeah the Predator design looks like crap,” the next comment reads. “I realize that making it skinnier so a human actor can portray him and move more effectively as a protagonist is the point. Just looks very off.”

[RELATED: Predator: Badlands Trailer Includes a Major Alien Franchise Easter Egg (And You Missed It)]

One user comes in to offer some context to the Predator’s visual look to hopefully alleviate some of the worry that’s going on. “He’s a Young Blood obviously, he isn’t going to be as buff or epic as a fully Blooded Hunter yet,” the Reddit user says.

Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi plays our young Predator in Badlands, and the choice to have him portray the Yautja hunter and then use CGI to add on effects seems to be behind a lot of the outrage at the moment. Schuster-Koloamatangi’s Predator teams up with Fanning’s Thia on a remote alien planet, where they will face the ultimate adversary.

“Let me tell you, this guy, Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi is the actor’s name. We had a very specific casting for [main character] Dek. We thought we would want a stunt guy and this was a real opportunity, because all the other Predators need to be like seven-foot-six. It’s very specific people that aren’t often trained stuntmen,” Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg pointed out during a press event, which ComicBook attended. “They happen to be that size and they decide to get into this business.”

He continued, “[Prey star] Dane [DiLiegro] did want to be in the business, but he also was an ex-basketball player, he was the one who played the feral in Prey. Here, it was the first time I was like, ‘Oh, we can get a proper stunt guy to be the guy who can move in the ways…’ And at one of our castings, we had a number of stunt guys and then this dude Dimitrius came up and the way he moved just had a great swashbuckle to it. He just was so cool. We set up a little physical obstacle course. That’s how we cast him. Then he did some dramatic stuff from the movie and it was awesome. I was not at all prepared for what he actually does, it’s so … I could not believe, how did we luck into this guy?”

Predator: Badlands, which stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg and produced by John Davis, Dan Trachtenberg, Marc Toberoff, Ben Rosenblatt, and Brent O’Connor.

What do you think about our new Predator? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!