Rocket and Groot Convinced Dan Trachtenberg to Make Bud Adorable and Badass in Predator: Badlands

Predator: Badlands isn't just about a Yautja slicing its way through a hostile planet. It's secretly a hangout movie in hunter armor, with misfits who accidentally become a family. And yes, that cozy, unlikely-team vibe was very on purpose.

Guardians energy... in a Predator movie

Director Dan Trachtenberg says he pulled from Guardians of the Galaxy for both the tone and the crew dynamic, and it even fed into the design of the movie's cutest new face: Bud. If you're thinking "adorable but will absolutely wreck you", you're on the right track.

"I thought about Rocket Raccoon or Groot - adorable, but also super badass." — Dan Trachtenberg

Trachtenberg also drops a fun nerdy detail: he plays a lot of World of Warcraft, and the Murloc helped shape Bud's look. They toyed with whether Bud should be tiny or huge before landing on the version that clicked.

The setup: a runt with something to prove

Starring Dimitirus Schuster-Koloamatangi and Elle Fanning, Predator: Badlands follows Dek, a Yautja 'runt' itching to climb the food chain. He heads to Genna — nicknamed 'the Death Planet' — to hunt the Kalisk, a nightmare creature so notorious that plenty of Yautja have died trying to turn it into a trophy. Dek's not just chasing glory: his clan-leader father executed his brother Kwei, and Dek is out to prove he's worthy and settle that score.

On Genna, Dek collides with Thia, a legless Weyland-Yutani synth with an aggressively sunny disposition, and Bud, a mute little bruiser who drools and mauls in equal measure. Dek initially hates their whole vibe, but after they keep him alive through Genna's nasty flora and fauna, he lets them tag along — and even labels them his 'tools'.

Why the movie has heart (and why that matters)

Trachtenberg didn't just stop at Guardians. He leaned into the "unlikely partnership with a pulse" idea because, well, it works. Think Terminator 2's not-a-dad protector bond, or the dusty camaraderie of Mad Max — touchstones he embraced to give Badlands some warmth without defanging the monster mayhem. He even calls out a single image that lives rent-free in his head: the kids and Frankenstein walking at sunset in The Monster Squad. That kind of iconography — the badass with a sidekick — shaped this movie's spine. And if you watched Prey and felt the Mad Max in its bones (Naru and her dog Sarii, anyone?), that's not an accident either.

The inspirations, straight from Trachtenberg's brain

• Guardians of the Galaxy: the template for lovable oddballs who also hit hard — and a north star for Bud's cute-but-lethal energy.
• World of Warcraft's Murloc: a surprising design touchpoint for Bud. Yes, really.
• Terminator 2 and Mad Max: permission to add warmth and emotional stakes to all the dust and danger.
• The Monster Squad: that silhouette of heroes at sunset as pure myth-making fuel.

One more swing Trachtenberg takes: the Predator itself is the protagonist. That's a bold angle for a franchise built on surviving the thing, not cheering for it — which is exactly why this unlikely little trio works.

Predator: Badlands is in theaters now.