4 days ago
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‘Predator: Killer of Killers' Director Dan Trachtenberg Discusses Aliens and… Terminator?
Ever since Arnold Schwarzenegger's Dutch Schaefer and his team of soldiers embarked on their doomed rescue mission in 1987, only to be hunted by an invisible alien threat, the Predator franchise has become synonymous with gratuitous live-action violence, filled with heaping amounts of blood and no shortage of spine-ripping gore. And across multiple sequels and crossovers, it has been something that fans just can't get enough of.
Everything is about to change with the arrival of Predator: Killer of Killers , as the streaming film marks the series' first foray into the animated space, and opens up a new realm of visual storytelling possibilities that can't be easily and effectively replicated in a live-action format.
From smooth, slick anime-like movements to whole new levels of stylistic destruction and modern animation, director Dan Trachtenberg ( Cloverfield Lane ), who also directed the last Predator sequel, Prey (2022), realised that he could introduce new elements to the lore, and connect with audiences in ways that the live-action films could not.
'I distinctly remember, as a kid, Predator was one of the first R-rated movies I was allowed to see, and the violence really blew my mind,' Trachtenberg recalls in an exclusive interview with Geek Culture.
'And I think around the same time, I eventually saw Akira for the first time, and that movie, as an animated film, was one of the more emotionally intense and heavy movies I had seen, and also one of the coolest action movies I had ever seen.'
Based on the manga of the same name, the 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk action adaptation has been lauded as one of the most influential anime films ever made.
Trachtenberg's goals for this film are twofold – to bring the Predator franchise to a medium it had yet to be in, while simultaneously fostering that 'first R-rated movie watching' experience he had, balancing both incredible violence with a story full of heart and emotional intensity.
When it comes to stories, Predator: Killer of Killers offers not one, but three tales, with the anthology film covering three distinct characters across different points in history – a Viking in a raiding party on a bloody quest for revenge, a ninja in feudal Japan who turns against his brother in a battle for succession, and an allied pilot during World War II – as all three encounters something far deadlier than an enemy from that era.
The time periods might differ, but one thing remains constant throughout – they are all hunted by a member of the galaxy's deadliest predator.
With three stories, each with its own associated Predator, one would think that Predator: Killer of Killers would be a non-stop violence fest throughout its 90-minute runtime, but that was never the intent, to triple the same tale of man vs. alien. Instead, Trachtenberg wants to offer that same balance between action and deep character development, in the same vein as his 2022 prequel, Prey.
'Since the first Predator movie, which essentially was a slasher movie, you're bonding with human characters, and you're seeing them picked off one by one by an unseen creature. [This] same thing was somewhat a part of Prey , although I think Prey decides to be even more character forward and more drama forward before the intensity unfolds,' he explains.
'It was really important to me to carry that forward with Killer of Killers , but not just with having characters that were on their own emotional story, but also featuring an action sequence before the Predator even shows up. So there really is an exciting conflict in the stories that only gets amplified when the Predator becomes a part of it, harkening back to the franchise's DNA.'
Even though a stronger emphasis has been placed on the human side of the equation, Trachtenberg and the team are still well aware that most viewers are in it for the grand reveal of each Predator, thus making huge strides to ensure each hunter fits well into its associated time period, which sets up an interesting prospect considering how this film brings the franchise further back in time even, compared to Prey's 1719 tribal setting.
'Set in the 800s, we're seeing a Predator that is before even Prey , but still has to feel far more formidable and advanced than our Earthlings,' he explains, 'So that's where it's very singular weapon came in, something that certainly speaks to technology and does things that human weaponry cannot do, but also seems to be a little bit more in the the Viking aesthetic.'
And from the snippets seen in trailers, this statement certainly rings true, with the Vikings facing off against a hulky beast with an energy weapon for a right hand, making it less technologically advanced than the usual Predators fans are used to, but still much superior to the opposing Vikings, which by comparison, might as well be fighting the creature with literal sticks and stones.
It's not just the Vikings who will be having a tough go at it, though, as the Predators are also leaving their mark on feudal Japan, and a time period where society has been ravaged by World War II, each bringing their own unique tools to the table.
'For our Japan chapter, we wanted to lean into something that felt more stealth-like. We loved the idea of ninja meets ninja, and the Predator has always been this 'ninja-like' creature, and it was exciting to see game meet game.' Trachtenberg adds.
'And then, of course, World War II, the pure joy of realising we could tell a story that would be almost entirely set in the air, and have the Predator function the way it normally does on the ground, except from his spaceship exclusively, still unleashing all of his fun toys and seeing if humans could outsmart that gauntlet was really exciting.'
But what's next for the series? There's no secret that the filmmaker is in the midst of the upcoming Predator: Badlands film, which marks the seventh film in the mainline series. Starring Elle Fanning ( Maleficent , A Complete Unknown ), the movie does not take place on Earth and is instead set on the Predator species' home world, and will focus on the culture of their species.
But what ignited excitement among the fandom was the revelation that Fanning was playing the role of Thia, an android created by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation – the same company that has sought to exploit the xenomorphs from the Alien franchise.
The appearance of the company's logo left fans anticipating some level of crossover between the two massive franchises, each featuring a distinct species of formidable alien hunters. While there have been two Alien vs. Predator films in the mid-2000s, both received negative reviews, but with the recent success of Alien: Romulus (2024), and excitement for the upcoming Alien: Earth TV series, a revival of the crossover has become top of mind among fans. Elle Fanning's Thia in Predator: Badlands
When pressed about the hints of a connected Predator and Alien universe, Trachtenberg merely points to established lore that already showed that Predator and Alien have long shared a connected universe, as 1990's Predator 2 featured a Xenomorph skull hanging in the trophy room of a Predator ship during its closing scene.
'Even before Predator 2 that featured the Xenomorph skull in the trophy room at the end, there's always been a shared DNA between Terminator and Predator and Aliens,' notes the filmmaker, who references James Cameron's iconic franchise. Comic book fans would remember that all three franchises were involved in a limited series from 2000.
'They're all action, horror, sci-fi that came out around the same time,' he notes. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
For Trachtenberg, the dichotomy between the Alien and the Predator was always interesting, with the former being more of a creature, while the latter being a character, possessing 'intelligence, a code and a culture that separates him from all the other action horror films that came out of the 80s', something that allows the apex hunter to gain all the new stories over the years, with an underlying 'terrestrial idea' that can link to different cultures, iconography and aesthetics.
'Certainly with Predator and Alien, they've intersected over time, and as evidenced in Badlands , there's some further linkage there,' he hints, while also adding, 'I think I have no interest in taking all the action figures and smashing them together inside one movie, but there's certainly something fun about telling a story that's very world-expansive.'
Predator: Killer of Killers premieres on 6 June 2025 on Disney+ and Hulu in the United States.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
