Image credit: 20th Century Studios
It’s been revealed that Predator: Badlands originally featured appearances from key characters from the Predator and Alien franchises before being cut. In a recent interview, the film’s director, Dan Trachtenberg, touched upon what the appearances entailed and why they got cut from the final film.
Badlands premiered in theaters on November 7, 2025, and arrived on digital platforms on January 6, 2026. The movie stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi in the leading roles alongside a supporting cast that includes Reuben de Jong, Mike Homik, and Cameron Brown.
Dan Trachtenberg reveals Predator: Badlands’ deleted characters
In a recent interview, director Dan Trachtenberg revealed that Prey’s Naru (Amber Midthunder) wasn’t the only major character from the Predator franchise who almost had a cameo in Badlands after the interviewer brought up the character’s easter egg appearance in the film. Dan Trachtenberg told ScreenRant that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Dutch, from the original 1987 Predator film, Alien’s Xenomorph, and the backbiter creature from the animated film Predator: Killer of Killers, also appeared in the film’s original draft and temporary visual effects.
He further stated that the scene with those characters and a lot of dialogue was shortened to the point that viewers “could barely see” them. Trachtenberg recalled that despite this, he and the creatives worked to incorporate what they could, stressing that they “wanted to nod to our favorite characters that the Predators have fought against over the years.”
“They had a longer conversation, or they said the same idea of ‘Pick Your Planet,’ and all that stuff, but it was a little bit longer,” he explained. “So there were more holograms to be in the background. And what we have now is more soft focus in the foreground, you kind of see it and all that.”
Trachtenberg also addressed whether there was a version of Predator: Badlands where Naru directly appeared. He acknowledged that Badlands’ Dek and Naru could team up, but said, “That’s not the thing we haven’t seen.” The filmmaker explained that Naru’s lack of a direct appearance was him saving story ideas he had for her for a completely different film, reasoning that he “didn’t want to ruin her return.”
Originally reported by Abdul Azim Naushad on ComingSoon.
