20th Century Studios has been pleasing fans of both the Alien and Predator franchises, thanks to stellar projects like FX’s Alien: Earth, as well as the films Alien Romulus and Prey. That latter project’s director, Dan Trachtenberg, has been stoking the fires of hype for his next chapter Predator: Badlands – while also fending off rumors stating that it’s really a secret Alien vs. Predator movie.
However, if you were thinking that Weyland-Yutani’s presence in that picture was going to give us a new Xenomorph to worry about, think again. In an interview with Empire, Trachtenberg debunked those hopes outright through this statement:
“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.”
The reasons in particular come from the presence of Thia (Elle Fanning), an android in the employ of The Company’s Bioweapons Division. As Predator: Badlands sees this artificial person teamed with young Yaujta hunter Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) to take down a massive killing machine, you can imagine how Weyland-Yutani would want to get its hands on that beast for research.
It’s that plot point that saw the helmer of Predator: Killer of Killers roping in the infamous multinational conglomerate into the fold. As specified in a previous Empire interview, Weyland-Yutani’s experience with robots was the bigger draw here. So I can see why there’s no Xenomorph to speak of in Predator: Badlands, but I can also acknowledge the trail of thought that led us to this hypothesis at the same time.
Make no mistake: Dan Trachtenberg and Alien Romulus co-writer/director Fede Alvarez want to make an Alien vs. Predator reboot happen. However, as seen in the 10 Cloverfield Lane director’s remarks above, that’s something that’ll take as much care as hunting an apex predator. So keep that in mind as you prepare to see Predator: Badlands, set to debut in theaters on November 7th.
Related: Fede Alvarez Shares Rationale for Why He Won’t Direct Another Alien Film