Predator: Badlands Just Crushed Your Alien Crossover Dreams
Fans spotted a Weyland-Yutani logo through the eyes of Elle Fanning’s synthetic Thia, but Predator: Badlands director Dan Trachtenberg has shut down hopes of an Alien crossover—the hunt stays in its own universe.
If you watched that Predator: Badlands trailer and clocked the Weyland-Yutani logo, you probably had the same thought I did: wait, are we about to crash into Alien territory again? Director Dan Trachtenberg says pump the brakes. Different sandbox, same studio, no chestbursters.
The Alien connection that is and isn’t
Quick recap: the trailer flashes the Weyland-Yutani mark through the POV of Elle Fanning’s character, Thia. She’s a synthetic, and yes, she was built by that famously shady corporation from the Alien movies. Naturally, fans started whispering about Xenomorphs showing up.
Trachtenberg, talking to Empire, shut that down. The logo is there on purpose, but not to tee up a monster mash.
'There is no Xenomorph in this movie,' Trachtenberg said. 'We are 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.'
Translation: Badlands nods at the wider universe, but it is not an Alien crossover. No acid blood cameo. Which, honestly, makes the choice more interesting. The inside baseball here is that Weyland-Yutani is not just an Easter egg; it actually threads into the story in a way Trachtenberg thinks is worth it without dragging in a whole other franchise.
So what is Badlands doing, exactly?
It is set in the future on a remote planet and follows a young Predator who has been cast out by his clan. He ends up teaming with Thia, the Weyland-Yutani-made synthetic we see in the trailer, and together they trek out looking for the ultimate adversary. It is a clean, dangerous premise with a very specific duo at the center: an exile and an android, both with something to prove.
- Director and producer: Dan Trachtenberg
- Screenplay: Dan Trachtenberg and Patrick Aison, based on characters by Jim Thomas and John Thomas
- Cast: Elle Fanning as Thia; Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Dek
- Producers: John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Ben Rosenblatt, Brent O'Connor
- Studio: 20th Century Studios
- Theaters: November 7, 2025
Bottom line: Predator: Badlands is playing near Alien’s corporate orbit, not crossing the streams. If you came for Xenomorphs, wrong movie. If you are into a lean Predator story with a sharp sci-fi hook and a not-so-friendly corporate footprint, this has my attention.