It's safe to say that the Yautja have proved their dominance. By "the Yautja", we mean one Yautja in particular, as Dek has achieved his ultimate goal of proving himself a truly formidable warrior by dominating the box office over the weekend. It's true; in spite of positive projections leading up to its premiere, Predator: Badlands still managed to overperform, achieving a franchise-best opening weekend of $80 million.
The Dan Trachtenberg thriller approaches the Predator lore from a different standpoin, turning the story into more of an action-adventure than a horror movie. Dek is at the heart of it, having travelled to Genna to hunt and kill the deadly Kalisk in a bid to show his clan that he's more than his father thought of him.
He goes a long way to showcase that and makes some surprising friends along the way. But what does the film's ending really mean, and could there be a sequel on the horizon? Let's dive into the end and the ramificaitons it could have for the franchise.
*** This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS from Predator: Badlands. Don't read on if you would prefer it wasn't spoiled for you.
Dek of the Yautja claims his trophy
Dek was treated to emotional and physical torment at the hands of his odious father, who saw his son as nothing but a weakness. Even when his strong, assured, and formidable brother Kwei stepped up to save him, their father slayed his own son to prove a point. And thus infuriated Dek, who vowed to carry out his promise of claiming his trophy and proving his strength to his clan.
However, his journey to Genna to kill the Kalisk led him to some interesting realizations: Particularly the fact that you can be the leader of the pack without having to be macho, uncaring, or vicious towards your loved ones. This realization came about after he met Thia, an android from the Weyland Corporation, and Bud, a baby Kalisk. And with that, he protected his new friends from their enemies and returned to his home planet to claim his trophy. Not the Kalisk, but his father.
Dek defeated his father in a hard-fought battle and allowed Bud to eat his head right off his shoulders. He didn't do it for revenge, he did it for Kwei. And with that, he was finally able to claim that he was indeed Dek of the Yautja. He didn't do it by being a lone warrior, he did so by realizing that the true strength came from surrounding yourself with people who care - people like him.
As he celebrates his victory and takes his invisibility cloak for himself, Thia and Bud are there to celebrate their clan member. However, as the celebrations begin, a large ship hovers in the distance, alerting the attention of Dek, Thia, and Bud - as well as the members of Dek's father's clan. It turns out that this is none other than Dek's mother.
Then, the credits roll...
Predator: Badlands 2 could focus on Dek's future, a potential Alien crossover, and maybe even the return of Arnold Schwarzenegger
The future of the Predator franchise is unclear at the moment, but we mean that in a good way. Predator: Badlands overperformed in its opening weekend and with little competition until Wicked: For Good comes out on November 21, it could continue to do so. If that's the case, a sequel is a realistici possibility.
But still, the immediate future of the franchise remains a mystery as director Dan Trachtenberg has brought us three very different Predator movies in recent years via 2022's Prey, animated movie Predator: Killer of Killers earlier this year, and of course Predator: Badlands. The question remains as to what the next installment could look like.
We now know that there is scope for a Predator: Badlands 2 and the obvious storyline there would be some kind of showdown between Dek and his mother. If his father was the heartless monster of the clan, is his mother better or worse? That's obviously a question fans would like to see answered. But it's not the only cliffhanger in the Predator franchise.
2022's Prey saw Naru face the potential threat of more Predators while Killer of Killers featured the shocking revelation that surviving Predator killers (Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch, Danny Glover's Mike Harrigan, and Amber Midthunder's Naru) had been taken by the aliens themselves and were being held in storage. Could that come into play as well?
Producer Ben Rosenblatt recently discussed the possibility of Arnold reprising his iconic role in the future with Deadline, and it sounds like a future installment of the Badlands franchise could make that happen.
"Obviously, the holy grail ofPredator movies would be getting Arnold back in there... And it’s always been something in the back of our minds that it would be really great to see him come back to this franchise that he’s made iconic, and that’s made him iconic."
He also revealed that Trachtenberg and Scahwarzenegger have met a few times and is really interested in the stories they are telling. Perhaps it's finally time to bring Dutch back to the fray.
Speaking of which, no characters are more familiar with the Predators than the Xenomorphs and, with the Alien and Predator franchise under the same roof at Disney another crossover is inevitable. We already saw the beginnings of that crossover in Badlands via the Weyland Corporation, so it's clear that these movies are set in the same universe. It's unclear if the previous two AvP films are considered canon to either franchise anymore, but Badlands' inclusion of an Alien fixture has once again canonized the Alien movies in the world of the Predator.
It goes without saying that fans would love to see more of these new, vivid worlds that Dan Trachtenberg has created for the Predator franchise. A sequel to Predator: Badlands is now at the top of that list. If we see Arnold, Aliens, or anything else along the way, that's just a bonus!
Predator: Badlands is in theaters now!