Predator: Badlands is still playing its cards quite close to the chest, but several outrageous theories could account for all the cloak-and-dagger surrounding the plot of the latest entry in the franchise. Despite the first trailer for Predator: Badlands giving a valuable first look at the upcoming film, very little concrete plot details have been filled in.

All that’s really known about the film is that it takes place farther in the future than the Predator movies have ever gone, following a young, outcast Predator named Dek as he hunts some unknown worthy prey on a hostile planet with the help of a Weyland-Yutani android.

That general setup is exciting on its own, but with Prey director Dan Trachtenberg back at the helm, there’s room for plenty of surprises. He’s the one, after all, who included Predator 2‘s flintstock pistol in Prey and just retroactively added Dutch and Mike Harrington to Predator: Killer of Killers, after already including Naru’s cameo.

Showing Elle Fanning’s android character in the Predator: Badlands trailer suggests there are even bigger twists to come with this next installment. As it stands, some wild speculation is in order to guess at more possibilities.

10

Dutch Or Mike Harrington Will Return And Be Unfrozen

The surprise dropping of an additional scene after Predator: Killer of Killers‘ ending opens up many opportunities for Badlands. This notably includes the chances that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch and Danny Glover’s Mike Harrington, former Predator survivors who had been captured and cryogenically frozen, could come back.

Both were preserved by the mighty Yautja race, seemingly for use in future hunts as particularly fearsome challenges. Seeing them reappear, perhaps digitally de-aged, would be an audacious surprise for Predator: Badlands to indulge in and certainly be part of bigger plans for what is to come in this franchise.

9

Naru Will Be Unleashed On The Hostile Alien Planet

Another returning hero whose presence might be more realistic is Amber Midthunder’s Naru, the protagonist of Prey, who defeated the Feral Predator with his own technology despite only having access to 18th-century arms and armor. Naru is among the Predator protagonists preserved by the Yautja at the end of Predator: Killer of Killers.

Seeing as how her actress is still spry and her movie was far more recent, Naru would be an amazing addition to the cast of Predator: Badlands compared to the older, if more iconic, returning heroes. Naru could even be the mysterious figure in Predator-like armor that Dek can be seen battling in the trailer.

8

The Badlands Planet Is The Same Planet From Predators

The often-forgotten early 2010s addition to the Predator franchise, Predators​​​​​​, was the first to take the series off of Earth. The film centered on a group of dangerous soldiers, mercenaries, and criminals being captured and released in a sort of wilderness enclosure on an alien planet for the Yautja to hunt for sport at their leisure.

A truly unexpected twist the next movie could pull would be to reveal that the planet in Predator: Badlands is one and the same as the game preserve used by the hunters of Predators. Adrien Brody’s Royce and Alice Braga’s Isabelle, who survive that film’s events, could even return somehow as legendary prey that continued to elude defeat.

7

Weyland-Yutani Is Harvesting The DNA Of Dangerous Species

In a stunning twist, the first trailer for Predator: Badlands revealed Thia as not just a run-of-the-mill android, but a classic milky-blooded model manufactured by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation of Alien fame. This officially links both Alien and Predator franchises together for the first time since Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem in the early 2000s.

This begs the question as to what exactly the shadowy corporation is doing on this new, dangerous planet. An answer to that is the idea that Weyland-Yutani, in their unyielding hubris, are attempting to harvest the DNA of the planet’s terrifying local fauna. Perhaps Thia has another motive for her team-up with Dek than she’s letting on or even realizes.

6

The Predators And Xenomorphs Will Fight Once Again

Another result of introducing Weyland-Yutani to Predator: Badlands is opening the door for Xenomorphs and Predators to cross paths once again. Though the Alien vs. Predator movies may have been softly retconned in the years since their introduction, it seems as though the two iconic murderous aliens could find themselves fighting.

Killer of Killers had the Grendel King seemingly wearing a Xenomorph spine, and there has been increased interest in having the two movie monsters cross paths again. Although the canonicity of past crossovers is debatable, Badlands would be a great place to surprise viewers with the chance to see the Xenomorphs and Yautja duke it out on screen for the first time in over a decade.

5

Thia Will Betray Dek To Study Or Harvest Him

One thing most of the Weyland-Yutani androids have in common is an unwavering commitment to the corporation’s interest, even in the face of human lives being at stake. While occasional exceptions do present themselves, for the most part, these robots stop at nothing to achieve their mission objectives and are very good at sneakily hiding them from allies.

It’s hard to imagine that Thia would be any different. It could be that Thia intentionally leads Dek astray in order to serve her corporate overlords, whether that means getting him killed or harvesting his DNA for the company’s sick designs. In any case, it’ll be hard to trust a Weyland-Yutani android knowing the deceit they’re capable of.

4

Dek Is Half-Human

Dek is very different from the other Predators of the Predator franchise audiences have become acquainted with. Treated as an outcast and described as a runt, Dek is also the first Predator to be the protagonist of a movie rather than the antagonist.

Dek’s physical differences can also be pointed out, from his more expressive face to his thinner predlocks and leaner build. Rather than simply being the runt of the litter, it could be that Dek is actually half-human. This would explain his physical differences as well as his outcast place in Yautja society, a devastating secret separating him from the rest.

3

The Predator Badlands Planet Is Actually Earth

Set in the 2100s, Predator: Badlands will not be beholden to any actual historical or present-day limitations that other films in the series have. Its far-future setting will have the chance to define its own narrative, and it might be able to do this by incorporating a twist from science fiction as early as the first Planet of the Apes movie.

It could turn out that the supposedly alien hostile planet Dek’s hunt takes place on is actually Earth after all, ravaged by some ecological disaster that introduced terrifying new life forms to its ecosystem. Whether it be Yautja intervention, the Alien series’ black goo, or Weyland-Yutani’s genetic meddling, the dramatic landscape of the film could be more familiar than initially meets the eye.

2

The Badlands Planet Was Wiped Out By David’s Pathogen

Weyland-Yutani’s presence could link the Alien and Predator franchises even closer than previously thought. If the mysterious black goo pathogen used by the engineers really was the cause of the Predator: Badlands planet looking the way it does now, one familiar being could be responsible – Michael Fᴀssbender’s David.

At the end of Alien: Covenant, it’s revealed that David was actually the mastermind behind the Xenomorphs the entire time, experimenting on the тιтular ship’s crew until arriving at the design for the horrid creatures. The mutant beasts of Predator: Badlands could be the next stage of his ghoulish experiments, and David himself might even be behind the mysterious mask in the trailer.

1

The Real Unkillable Creature Of Predator Badlands Is An Engineer

As intriguing as the idea of a David appearance is, Dek’s true quarry being yet another mere android seems like a disappointing prospect. It’s clear that the “definitive apex predator” Thia mentions in the trailer is far more than that. The trailer highlights one mᴀssive monster Dek fights, but perhaps that’s not the real apex predator out there.

In truth, the presence of an Engineer behind the mask of Dek’s enigmatic opponent would fit Thia’s words perfectly. The hyper-intelligent precursor species first introduced in Prometheus might be the only fitting choice for her description. Seeing a Predator make a pᴀss at taking one down would ensure Predator: Badlands‘ legacy as an unbelievable franchise development.