Predator: Badlands promises to be a very different kind of Predator movie. The previous Predator movies have all been rated R for strong violence, but during ScreenRant‘s exclusive visit to the movie’s set in 2024, the crew revealed that they are expecting to avoid an R rating for Badlands and settle for PG-13 instead.

Even the animated Predator: Killer of Killers received an R rating, continuing the franchise trend despite its new format. Director Dan Trachtenberg has revolutionized the long-running sci-fi series in many ways since taking creative control in 2022, and Badlands will be no different. However, this lower rating doesn’t mean audiences should expect no violence at all.

Predator: Badlands Doesn’t Feature Any Human Blood

Interestingly, Predator: Badlands‘ potential PG-13 rating feels like somewhat of a technicality. While there absolutely will be violence and blood in the film, none of it will be red human blood. Instead, the majority of the characters will either be aliens or synthetics, the latter of which bleed blue. This is how the film hopes to dodge the R rating.

As revealed in Predator: Badlands‘ trailers, Elle Fanning’s character is a Weyland-Yutani synthetic named Thia. Despite losing her legs and getting severely injured throughout the film, all that’s shown is broken wires and blue blood. The film’s other main character, Dek, is a Predator that’s closer to an animal than a man. This is another smart way of avoiding human gore while perhaps not skimping on the violence.

In fact, the entire Weyland-Yutani crew will reportedly be synthetics, which marks a first for the Alien franchise. This sequel is set in the very distant future of the Alien timeline, and the synthetics will allegedly be even more advanced and evolved than those we’ve previously seen in projects like Alien: Earth.

This all-synthetic crew means that Predator: Badlands doesn’t have to shy away from death and violence to maintain its PG-13 rating. While visiting the movie’s set, ScreenRant was shown footage of robotic skeletons and Predator trophy rooms, proving that the R rating was never strictly necessary for the Predator franchise to maintain its dark atmosphere.

All of this indicates that Predator: Badlands won’t receive an R rating after all; being PG-13 means more people can see the movie, and it will hopefully perform even better at the box office. Films with R ratings typically aren’t as commercially successful as those with more universal audiences, so this could be an excellent sign for Predator: Badlands‘ success.