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www.postmagazine.com 18 POST MAR/APR 2026 P R E D AT O R : B A D L A N D S Audiences get a new perspective of a familiar sci-fi villain BY MARC LOFTUS T he latest chapter in the Predator franchise was released theatrically last November and recently be- gan streaming on Hulu. Predator: Badlands is set in the future on a deadly, remote planet. There, Dek, a young and undersized Predator, is outcast from his Yautja clan. In an effort to prove himself, he embarks on a journey to a dangerous planet with the goal of killing and returning home with the head of the Kalisk — a creature feared by even the most accomplished Yautja. Along the way, he finds an unlikely ally in Thia — and synthetic human — and the two contin- ue on the hunt, with Dek later finding out Thia has her own reason for wanting the Kalisk. David Trachtenberg, brother of director Dan Trachtenberg, was a co-editor on the film, working in collaboration with Stefan Grube. Unlike past films in the franchise, this Predator is the protag- onist, and rather than playing straight on with action and violence, the film adds a buddy-movie element, along with occasional spots of humor. Here, Trachtenberg and Grube share details on how the VFX-heavy film came together. Predator: Badlands is different from other films in the franchise's long history. How did director Dan Trachtenberg reimagine it playing out in the cutting room? David Trachtenberg: "Dan wanted to make a buddy movie of sorts and present the Predator (Dek) as a hero, rather than a villain. Editorially, we focused on moments that painted him in that light. He still had to be badass, but not as a character you fear, but one that you can root for and bond with." Stefan Grube: "We were secretly making an action/ adventure, as opposed to an action/horror movie — something different from any Predator film that came before — fun and sometimes funny. Because of that, the question of tone was something we talked about constantly. We kept asking, 'Is this insane? Is this going to work?' "The first reel in the movie goes pretty hard, setting the stage for the audience to buy into the rest of the craziness that ensues. I give Dave a lot of credit for that opening. It just reels you in." What were some of the more challenging or pivotal scenes, and how did you address them? David Trachtenberg: "Introducing Thia was a balance. Is she too goofy? Is she fun? Who is she? It was a tricky thing we kept navigating over and over again. She needed to be introduced into the story in a very strategic way to not make too hard a turn into something so different from expecta- tions of Predator movies, but remain committed to the idea that she would be a little quirky and fun." Stefan Grube: "What Thia establishes the first time you meet her goes deeper than setting up the plot twist in which it's revealed that she has been misleading Dek. It's a tone-setter. You see her split in two, and you're like, 'Okay, better get on board.' But yeah, we passed those first few scenes with Thia back and forth a lot. We kept finding some- thing new in the dailies and saying, 'We gotta get that in!'" David Trachtenberg: "An equally challenging objective was to find the tone and the relation- ship between Thia and her twin sister Tessa (also played by Fanning). The big scene where they first meet in the convoy was a beast, and I give Stefan full credit for making it work so beautifully. He really found the rhythm and the tone of that moment, and how they interacted and related to one another." Stefan Grube: "I'd throw that back to Dave. I only did the final pass that made it into the movie. We probably passed that scene back and forth more than any other, and it was also a scene that ended up being re-shot. The first version was wholly dif- ferent from where we eventually landed. And the process of how we got there truly speaks to the benefit of editing as a team."