The title for the next entry in the Predator franchise is Badlands, and it might hint at a connection to the surprisingly popular and acclaimed period horror movie, Prey. The 2022 prequel to the 1987 classic Predator featured one of the terrifying cosmic big game hunters known as the Yautja stalking a group of Comanche warriors across the American Great Plains in the year 1719. While it was not released in theaters, Prey became a streaming phenomenon on Hulu, and wound up as one of the most-watched streaming titles of the year.
Prey boasts the best Rotten Tomatoes score of any movie in the Predator franchise, and its reception with both critics and audiences made a follow-up inevitable. There are currently two new Predator movies in development, one of which is a direct sequel to Prey. The other, which will be released before Prey 2, will be a stand-alone Predator movie titled Badlands. Details are limited, but initial reports indicate that it will be set in the future, and will have a female lead. Despite its drastic temporal removal from the events of Prey, the title hints at a connection.
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The New Predator Badlands Movie Title Explained & How It Connects To Prey
Despite it being set in the future, the title hints that it could be connected to the 2022 surprise hit.
Given that it’s already been announced as an entry in the Predator franchise, Badlands will certainly feature one (or more) of the Yautja, the claw-mouthed hunters that track and kill other species throughout the galaxy for sport. Badlands most likely refers to the location in which the action will be set, and while the franchise has left Earth before, it feels safe to assume that the title references the Badlands of North America, which are in present-day South Dakota, at the northern edge of the American Great Plains.
That location could be how the movie ties into the events of Prey, even if it is set hundreds of years in the future from the action of the acclaimed prequel. While no precise location was given, the events of Prey took place in the northern Great Plains of America, and featured a tribe of Comanche, who lived in that territory at that time in American history. The open plains depicted in Prey could in fact be the Badlands, which is a territory made up of sharp buttes and open plains.
Badlands Could Incorporate Some Clever Prey Easter Eggs
Even if it isn’t a direct continuation of Prey, it could still make some smart connections.
If Badlands is in fact set in the same geographic location, then the sequel has a ton of opportunities for clever Easter eggs. The human protagonists of Badlands could find artifacts or artwork left behind by the Comanche tribe that was hunted in Prey; that could even be used for exposition to inform the new characters what they’re up against. It’s possible to tie it in even further to the prequel by making the female lead of Badlands a direct descendant of Naru, Amber Midthunder’s Yautja-killing warrior from Prey, with the Yautja returning with new weapons for a second hunt.
Predator
- Created by:
- Jim Thomas, John Thomas
- First Film:
- Predator
- Cast:
- Carl Weathers, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kevin Peter Hall, Peter Cullen, Derek Mears, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Françoise Yip, Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers
- Movie(s):
- Predator (1987), Predator 2, Predators, Predator, Prey
- Video Game(s):
- Predator: Hunting Grounds, Predator: Concrete Jungle
