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The Predator Franchise Has Set Up Two Major Crossover Films (And A Secret Third)
Predator: Badlands is a major hit on streaming, and it has a lot of viewers going back to watch director Dan Trachtenberg’s previous two films in the Predator franchise, the prequel film Prey (2022) and the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers (2025). Those two films and Badlands have sparked all kinds of conversations about the resurgence of Predator, and what the franchise’s future holds – especially after Predator: Badlands seamlessly wove the Alien franchise into its story.
For those who don’t know it yet, Trachtenberg has set the Predator franchise up for at least two major event films that could go into production as soon as Disney and 20th Century Studios give the greenlight. Then there’s the secret third film that could also be in the works, and we’re breaking it all down below!
Predator: The Ultimate Hunt
Prey and Predator: Killler of Killers revealed that a rogue sect of the Yautja race, the Desert Clan, is going around and kidnapping every Earthling who has bested a Yautja hunter during their hunt. That list includes special forces operative Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), LAPD Lt. Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover), and Comanche warrior Naru (Amber Midthunder), not to mention the three characters (Ursa, Kenji, and Torres) we met in Killer of Killers. At Comic-Con 2025, it was confirmed that Schwarzenegger and Glover will be involved with Predator again, suggesting that some kind of event is on the horizon.
“The Ultimate Hunt” is just a nickname we’re throwing out, but you get the idea: Killer of Killers was about a tournament where the Yautja took three warriors out of cryo-sleep for a free-for-all brawl with a Super Predator clan leader. All Trachtenberg has to do is extend that concept a little further, staging some kind of milestone tournament amongst the Yautja that requires many former human champions to be released in some kind of Battle Royale or Hunger Games-style hunt (a concept explored in smaller scale in the film Predators).
Ursa, Kenji, and Torres actually united forces and upset the Desert Clan’s scheme, with Ursa giving her partners a key head-start on escaping. With Kenji being a master ninja, and Torres being a highly intuitive mechanic, it’s also conceivable that they double back for Ursa (who was captured and returned to cryo-sleep) and stage a massive prison break. Some fans have gone so far as to say there should be some Alien crossover as well, by revealing that Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley is also a Yautja prisoner, having proven herself a worthy hunter against the xenomorphs.
Either way, Dan Trachtenberg has a major Predator franchise event on deck that could effectively be a crossover of all the previous Predator movies (and maybe Alien/Aliens). Heck, they could even throw in the lesser-known (or loved) protagonists of Predators (Adrien Brody, Alice Braga) and The Predator (Boyd Holbrook). It would be the first major animated crossover event that Predator (or any other franchise, really) tried to pull off. But with the original actors returning would be a milestone in and of itself.
Reboot Alien vs. Predator (& Do It Twice)
Alien vs. Predator is a crossover franchise that dates back to the 1990s and has been explored in almost every form of media (comics, novels, video games, films). However, the AvP films of the 2000s weren’t well-received by the core fanbase. Alien vs. Predator (2004) made a respectable $177 million on a budget of $60 – $70 million, but the PG-13 rating it used to get that amount also cost them the dedicated fanbase, who saw the crossover and rating as a cash-grab by 20th Century Fox, after both the Alien and Predator franchise had stalled in the late-90s. The sequel film, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), fared even worse, earning a respectable $130 million (on a budget of $40 million) while getting fatally eviscerated by fans and critics alike, and earning the title of being one of the worst horror films ever.
Everyone is waiting for a new Alien vs. Predator event, and with Dan Trachtenberg making bigger and bigger connections between the franchise (down to having the major supporting character and the antagonist forces all being part of the Alien universe. Trachtenberg hasn’t committed to anything solid yet, but has acknowledged that AvP is one card on the table. The question is how to reboot the franchise in a way that will be more successful, and the fandom has one idea that is gaining a lot of steam: do two films.
Essentially, the idea would be for each franchise to get a chance at a crossover film made in its own vein. For Trachtenberg, that would mean doing Predator vs. Alien, wherein the Yautja are the protagonists, trying to survive some kind of xenomorph outbreak. The appeal would be having Yautja and xenomorphs battling in an alien planet setting, one that could offer some wild new xenomorph mutation designs. Similarly, getting way better cat-and-mouse hunter/hunted survival horror, as well as Yautja vs. xenomorph action than we saw in AvP seems like a guarantee if Trachtenberg is at the helm.
Alien(s) vs. Predator would then be a film that is more in the vein of an Alien horror flick. That would likely involve some ill-fated human crew (from the Weyland-Yutani corporation) venturing into a part of the galaxy they shouldn’t, and getting infected with xenomorphs. The twist would be that a Yautja hunter (or hunting party) infiltrates the planet, space station, or (best of all) space vessel. Alien started as a claustrophobic nightmare of sci-fi/horror, so packing Alien, Predator, and mankind into one ship would be pretty wild. As for the director, Alien: Romulus‘ Fede Álvarez is a clear good pick. The filmmaker already endorsed one version of Alien vs. Predator, telling Collider that he wouldn’t even indicate the crossover in the title of the film:
“The way I would do it, most likely, if it could be done this way… It’s harder to keep secrets online… The best AVP will be the one that you don’t know is AVP until the other guy shows up… you’re in an Alien movie, and then suddenly a mysterious creature is there, and you can hear that sound, and you see the cloak[ing], and you go, ‘Is that a ****ing Predator?’ And then turns out it is. That would be the way to do it, don’t you think? Once you put it in the title, it’s like, ‘Spoiler alert.’”
Álvarez isn’t the only option for a director. Sir Ridley Scott playing with both franchises ina crossover film would be a milestone event, while someone like Neil Blomkamp (the aborted Alien 5) would be the comeback kid story for diehard fans who were cheerleading that project.
Trachtenberg’s Top-Secret 4th Predator Film
With two installments of AvP on the table, the Predator franchise already technically has three major events to carry it forward – but that’s not all. Dan Trachtenberg has already revealed that there is another project – another one of his signature top-secret flips on Predator – that is his most-anticipated.
“After Prey came out, and I started thinking about sequel stuff, there were three ideas that I had,” Trachtenberg told SFX Magazine last June. “Killers is one, Badlands is two, and the third one is something else. The reason why I felt possessed to make them and sort of why I rushed – I did two at once because… I could multitask with animation – it was because I was so eager to get to the third thing.”
That “third thing” is currently unknown, but given that everything Trachtenberg has done with Predator has been revolutionary for the franchise, there’s no reason to assume his fourth film in the franchise will be any different. Finally, while it’s not yet been confirmed, a Predator: Badlands sequel seems more and more necessary, now that the film is a major hit on streaming.
You can stream every Alien and Predator film on Disney+. Discuss your favorite theories about what’s next in the franchise with us on the ComicBook Forum!
