
'Predator: Badlands' Director Teases 'Alien' Crossover
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors
One of the more surprising things about the promotional rollout for "Predator: Badlands" was the reveal that Elle Fanning appeared to be playing a Weyland-Yutani android; something usually reserved for the "Alien" movies.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, "Badlands" director Dan Trachtenberg confirms Fanning's character Thia is a Weyland-Yutani synthetic, and he also explains why he chose that over casting the actress as a human.
Read More: 'Predator: Badlands' Trailer Teases The Ultimate Hunt
Trachtenberg explained that one of the challenges of "Badlands" and one of the things that inspired the film was the idea of making Predator a sympathetic protagonist.
He initially considered making Thia a human, but worried that would take too much focus away from Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). That's when the idea of using a synthetic character came up.
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in "Predator: Badlands".
Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in "Predator: Badlands".
20th Century Studios
"And then the next thought was, wait a minute, I know a company that makes robots," Trachtenberg recalled. "And that led to the Weyland-Yutani synth of it all."
Making Dek more relatable is also why unlike the Yautja in other "Predator" films, you won't see him wearing a helmet very often.
"We were tempted, but the whole thing is, can you find a way into this monster?" Trachtenberg said. "Shrek isn't wearing that knight's helmet throughout the whole movie."
"It's like, no, the idea is he's an ogre. That's it — and you're going to have the experience with that guy and hopefully fall in love. And so that became the path here: really saying, yes, he is a creature, and yes, hopefully you're going to fall in love."
While Thia is a synthetic like the ones we're used to from the "Alien" films, Trachtenberg wants fans to know they shouldn't expect a full-on crossover between "Alien" and "Predator" in "Badlands."
"It is exciting to have this movie be just a little toe-dip link between those franchises," Trachtenberg said. "It's important to me — I am sure people anticipate a much bigger thing, and maybe other movies and other cinematic universes would be more aggressive — but I really didn't want to take all the action figures and smush them together. I really wanted to tell a cool story."
The "Alien" and "Predator" franchises have crossed over before and may do so again. Along with "Alien Vs. Predator" entries in other media, there was the 2004 film "Alien Vs. Predator" and its 2007 sequel "Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem."
More Movies:
'Spinal Tap II' Teases Huge Rock Star Cameos
'The Naked Gun' Reboot Popcorn Bucket References Original Classic Gag
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bob Odenkirk thinks he was 'too hard' on 'SNL' as young writer: 'This show could be better'
The "Nobody 2" star also tells EW he "would love that opportunity" when asked if there's a chance he'll host the season 51 premiere. Bob Odenkirk has found new respect for Saturday Night Live after leaving the show. While discussing Nobody 2 at San Diego Comic-Con 2025, the actor tells Entertainment Weekly that he has gained a better perspective on SNL in the years since he finished his tenure as a writer, which lasted from 1987 to 1991. Although he's previously said that he had a less-than-stellar view of SNL while he worked there, he now realizes that he judged the show too harshly. "I was too hard on the show," he says. "I had a lot of attitude when I got hired there, like, 'This show could be better, this show could be Monty Python, this should be more cutting edge, this should be more dangerous.' And I was frustrated by it not representing purely my point of view. I wanted it to be me, my show." Odenkirk now understands that his desire to personally transform the entire voice of SNL was foolhardy. "It's not my show! It's a show that is shared by everyone who's in that cast, and everyone who's in that writing staff, and it's shared by generations, and not one generation," he says. He continues, "Everybody in America watches it, and it's a reference point for everyone. I think the 50th just made me more aware [than] ever of the amazing work that's been done there." The Better Call Saul star also thinks that he got to write boundary-pushing comedy on a later project. "I think Mr. Show, the show I did with David Cross, I consider my effort to do something edgy and new and try to blast through some barriers and go to another level," he says. Odenkirk also admits that he didn't fully appreciate how SNL's lightning-fast weekly schedule makes its production so difficult. "It's a bigger challenge than I thought it was when I worked there," he explains. "When I worked there I was 25, I was like, 'C'mon, dammit! We can do better! This is easy!' And it literally was the years since I've left that I went, 'Wait a second, that show is almost impossible to do at all.'" Additionally, when asked if he'd consider hosting the show during its upcoming 51st season, Odenkirk responds strongly in the affirmative. "I would love that opportunity," he says. "I have mad respect for the effort of that show, and I would dream of being able to host."Though he's never hosted the show before, Odenkirk says that it remains within the realm of possibility. "There's been conversation about it," he explains. "They don't have me locked out. I'm friends with everybody there, and I know so many of the writers, and I know so many of the actors. It's just part of my life." Watch EW's full livestream of Friday's Comic-Con interviews above. Check out more of . Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly Solve the daily Crossword


Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Go behind the scenes with the ‘Alien: Earth' cast at Comic-Con 2025
SAN DIEGO — Sydney Chandler has wanted to attend San Diego Comic-Con as a fan for years. So it's 'surreal' that the actor's first experience with the annual pop culture expo is to promote her upcoming FX series 'Alien: Earth.' Chandler stars in the 'Alien' prequel as Wendy, a young girl whose consciousness has been transferred to an android. 'To be able to do it in this capacity is just mind-blowing,' she tells The Times in advance of the show's Hall H premiere on Friday. 'It's emotional because we worked on this for so long and I learned so much. … I'm kind of at a loss of words.' She does have words of appreciation, though, including for what she's learned from her character. 'Her journey of finding out how to hold her own and stand on her own two feet taught me so much,' says Chandler. 'I'm an overthinker. I'm an anxious person. I would have run so fast. I would not be as brave as her, but she taught me … that it's OK to just stand on your own two feet, and that's enough. That's powerful.' Even before the show's Hall H panel, fans have gathered on the sidewalk outside of the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego to catch a glimpse of Chandler and her 'Alien: Earth' cast mates Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther, Samuel Blenkin and Babou Ceesay, along with creator Noah Hawley and executive producer David Zucker, on their short trek to the bus that would transport them to the convention center for the show's world premiere. On the ride over, Hawley betrays no nerves about people seeing the first episode. 'I really think, in a strange way, it plays for all ages because it is about growing up on some level,' says the showrunner. 'But it's also 'Alien,' and it is a meditation on power and corporate power. ' Huddled together on the bus with Lawther and Blenkin, Ceesay is surprised to learn that this is the first time attending San Diego Comic-Con for all three. There's plenty of good-natured ribbing as they talk about the early interviews they've completed at the event. 'I just sort of want to make jokes with you all the time,' says Lawther as he looks towards his cast mates. 'I find it quite giddy in the experience, and I had to remind myself that I'm a professional.' 'Sometimes the British sarcasm instinct just kicks in,' Blenkin adds. Their playful dynamic continues as they joke about crashing Ceesay's other panel, and also backstage at Hall H as they try to sneak up on each other in the dark. After the panel, the cast is whisked away for video interviews and signing posters at a fan meet-and-greet at a booth on the exhibit floor. ('Timothy, you're the man!' shouts a fan passing by.) Later, Hawley, Chandler and Ceesay will hit the immersive 'Alien: Earth' activation where they will explore the wreckage of a crashed ship. 'It's such a safe space for people who just enjoy cinema and enjoy film,' Chandler says of Comic-Con. 'And that's me. I'm a complete nerd for all this stuff, so just to be around that group — it reminds me of why I love film so much in the first place.'
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Alien: Earth' Screens Blockbuster First Episode at Comic-Con
The upcoming Alien television series crash landed into Comic-Con with a blockbuster Hall H panel that got thousands of geeks sitting on the edge of their seats to an encroaching otherworldly horror. Alien: Earth, the FX series based on the classic 20th Century Studios science fiction horror movies, saw its first episode play on a giant screen in front of over 6,500 fans ahead of the show's premiere on FX and Hulu on Aug. 12. It was an ear-splitting, body-shaking experience that showcased epic moments, intimate moments and icky moments. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Rick and Morty' Spinoff 'President Curtis' a Go at Adult Swim 'The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon' Renewed for Fourth and Final Season at AMC "James Fraser Dies" in First 'Outlander' Season 8 Footage 'This is by far the biggest thing I've ever made,' said Noah Hawley, the showrunner who wrote and directed the pilot episode. 'But I made it like I make everything else: By hand, and love for you.' The series is ostensibly about a crashed spacecraft that brings the dreaded Alien xenomorph to Earth. But as expected, in Hawley's hands, there is much more going on. There are themese of humanity's quest for immortality, the greed of corporations (and inter-corporate warfare) and sibling love. Sydney Chandler plays a young woman named Wendy who is a first of her kind hybrid, a humanoid robot infused with human consciousness made by one of the mega-corporations who run the world. When a research starship owned by another mega-corporation crashes in a Southeast Asian metropolis, the childlike Wendy leads a rescue mission in order to find her brother. Unbeknownst to all, a xenomorph is on the ship… and so are a bunch of brand new alien creatures. 'Each hour has to have its horror elements but it has to be a drama,' explained Hawley. 'It has to be a character journey and be themactically rich. You have to worry that I may kill one of these people. I just might.' Timothy Olyphant, who plays a father figure of sorts to Chandler's characters, concurred, adding that by the time audiences gets four episodes in, it will be the character moments they will remember. But let's get back to the new creatures. Hawley said that the idea behind that was creating new feelings of 'genetic revulsion.' 'The one feeling you can't get back is the discovery of the life cycle of this creature (we all know so well now),' he said. 'How every step along the way is worse than the step before.' That said, there is plenty of xenomorph action. And it was mostly practical effects. The xenomorph was a man in a suit, not CG. 'I almost peed,' Chandler said when she saw him on set for the first time. Alien: Earth has a strong presence at Comic-Con as it also has an elaborate activation on the grounds of the convention center and nearby hotel. The interactive site allows guests to visit the crash site of the space ship holding the alien specimens and even allows for 'missions' in the evening as well as giveaways. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise Solve the daily Crossword