San Diego Comic-Con 2025 has come and gone, and while major sci-fi franchises like the MCU and the DCU were absent, one classic sci-fi franchise stole the show for me. While it isn’t one of the biggest sci-fi franchises, and it has had a rough past couple of decades, it has made a major comeback in recent years, and I’m confident that it is doing it right.

The Predator franchise is one of the most beloved action horror sci-fi franchises of all time, with the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger film being a classic. While the original movie was great, it didn’t fare as well in the following years. Predator 2 received mixed reception, and then the franchise went on hiatus until the critically panned Alien vs. Predator movies.

The Predator franchise didn’t properly return until 2010, with the release of Predators. While I love the film, it wasn’t as big of a hit as the other movies, with it becoming the black sheep of the franchise. Then, Predator attempted to return again with the release of the 2018 reboot film The Predator, which was panned by critics and fans alike.

Predator Is Getting Its Franchise Revival Right

Director Dan Trachtenberg Knows To Pace Himself

After the repeated failures of the previous Predator movies, the franchise knew that it had to do something wildly different in order to be reborn. Thus, it brought on director Dan Trachtenberg, who created the 2022 film Prey. Prey took things back to the past, focusing on a Yautja who lands in the Great Plains and attempts to hunt down a Comanche tribe, only to be bested by a young warrior named Naru.

Despite it being released straight to Hulu, Prey was a mᴀssive hit, with it often being considered the best movie in the Predator franchise. So, 20th Century Studios approached Dan Trachtenberg, asking him to make a sequel. While a traditional Prey 2 could have worked, Trachtenberg knew that this wasn’t good enough to save the franchise, as he explained in these San Diego Comic-Con 2025 comments:

“I realized oh no, I have to figure out if I’m making more of these. Sometimes when you make a sequel, it’s just the second part of the cool thing instead of its own cool thing.”

Instead, Trachtenberg took the prequel concept of Prey and turned it into an animated anthology, leading to Predator: Killer of Killers. Like its predecessor, Predator: Killer of Killers was a huge critical success, leading to more interest in the Predator franchise. However, the ending of Predator: Killer of Killers featured the return of Naru, tying the two films together.

2025’s Predator: Badlands is next, and it could close out the perfect Predator trilogy. At SDCC, a new ending for Killer of Killers was announced, revealing that the protagonists of Predator and Predator 2 are on the Yautja planet alongside Naru. Thus, Predator: Badlands could be the ultimate Predator crossover movie, with San Diego Comic-Con 2025 finally proving that the studio has finally figured out how to do the franchise right.