Predator: Badlands will offer modern audiences yet another look at one of the best villains in cinema history. The trailer teased the Predator’s battle against a huge monster that’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Nevertheless, fans of the horror franchise and the crossover spin-offs, Alien vs. Predator, will be disappointed to know that xenomorphs, the monsters from the Alien franchise, won’t be showing up in the film. Director Dan Trachtenberg has shot down any possibility that the film will feature a xenomorph versus Predator showdown, despite the trailer revealing that the film takes place in a universe where Weyland-Yutani actually exists.
As Trachtenberg has implied, this new Predator is unlike the ones we’ve seen before. Judging from the trailer, it’s safe to say that the young Dek is more hero than foe, and this time the enemy is a creature of unknown origins. But xenomorphs? They won’t show up in the movie. Trachtenberg spoke to Empire Magazine, addressing one of the biggest questions fans had after watching the revelatory trailer:
“There’s no Xenomorph in this movie. But to me, that makes it more exciting. We’re not involving [the Alien franchise] just to smush the action figures together. There are great, organic story reasons for Weyland-Yutani to be in this film.”
Predator: Badlands will premiere exclusively in theaters on November 7, 2025. The film is the seventh installment in the Predator franchise, and ninth overall in the timeline shared with Alien. It was written by Patrick Aison, from a story he based on a story co-developed with director Dan Trachtenberg. It is their official reunion after working together on the 2022 Predator prequel, Prey. Predator: Badlands is Trachtenberg’s third movie in the franchise, after directing the 2022 film, and the animated anthology also released in 2025, Predator: Killer of Killers.
The 20th Century Studios film stars Elle Fanning as Thia, the Weyland-Yutani synthetic with half her body missing who teams up with Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi’s Dek, the Predator who’s hunting down the massive creature on the planet Genna.
No Xenomorphs in ‘Predator: Badlands’ Could Be Bad News
A part of the appeal of this new batch of Predator movies has to do with the possibility that Predators could once again face off against xenomorphs. Their clash in Alien vs. Predator (and the sequel) was memorable enough to make them perfect cinematic contenders. When the trailer for Predator: Badlands premiered, and the Weyland-Yutani logo appeared on the screen (apart from other exciting nods to the Alien franchise), fans cheered in excitement. It was the official confirmation that the film takes place in the same universe as Alien.
The excitement was inevitable. Such a confirmation teased a crossover between xenomorphs and the Predator. Nevertheless, according to Trachtenberg, we’ll have to stick with Thia being the only “important” connection to the franchise created by Ridley Scott in the late ’70s. Did Predator: Badlands already lose a bit of its magic? Very unlikely, but this news will surely make Alien fans groan in disappointment.
