The first trailer for Predator: Badlands was released last week, and we’re still obsessing over it. The idea of having a Predator as the hero of a Predator movie is cool enough, but set on a planet filled with other species of badass, killer aliens? That’s just beyond awesome. And yet, those are merely the sprinkles on our obsession. The main focus is the massive, potentially world-building Easter egg 26 seconds in. Here it is if you don’t know what we’re talking about.
So, in Predator Badlands, Elle Fanning plays a character named Thia. Thia looks pretty normal in that top image of her but a half second later, her eyes roll back and reveal something staggering: the logo for Weyland-Yutani.
Weyland-Yutani, of course, is the evil corporation from the Alien franchise. The one that says it’s okay to kill everyone on the Nostromo in order to get the Alien back to Earth. The one that sends the Marines out to “kill” the creatures but really they’re just another sacrifice made while attempting to acquire them. The one Ripley screws over by killing herself on the prison planet. Yes, that Weyland-Yutani made Thia.
This is something we know the company does. Weyland-Yutani also created the other androids we’ve seen in Alien movies: Ash, Bishop, Rook, etc. Even in the most recent installment, Alien: Romulus, the android character Andy has a moment almost exactly the same as the one above. Remember this?
So, you may be wondering, why is that a big deal? Aliens and Predators have fought before in multiple movies as well as comic books. Yes, that’s true. However, this is our first link between the Predator franchise and the Alien franchise in this new, modern era of the films. And it seems to be happening with some care, clarity, and intention. Surely, it’s not a coincidence that both Andy and Thia have the same eye roll moment. These feel like the first seeds of an Alien vs. Predator Cinematic Universe done in a subtle enough way that these things only have to pay off if the fans want them to.
What does it mean, though? Well, that’s where things get interesting. It’s unclear when Predator: Badlands takes place but, if there’s a Weyland-Yutani android there, it’s certainly after or during the events of the Alien films. And if that’s the case, did the company put this android there on purpose? Are they actively searching for other killer alien species around the universe? Or did Thia just happen to end up on this planet full of them?
It would be incredibly interesting if all of the Alien films we’ve seen with Weyland-Yutani (which, it should be mentioned, are also front and center in this summer’s show Alien: Earth) represented just one sliver of the company’s efforts to acquire alien creatures for study. Maybe the xenomorph isn’t the only target. Maybe as one branch of the company is going after xenos, another is after Predators, and another is after those giant things in the Badlands trailer, and god knows what else. Or, if none of that is true, what will the company do if they find out about Thia’s knowledge of this vast variety of creatures?
Oh, and will this connection lead to a new film where Aliens and Predators go at each other? Could it even happen in this specific movie? We don’t have answers to any of these questions but they are damn fun to ask anyway, hence our obsession with this first Predator: Badlands trailer and its exciting Alien Easter egg. The film opens on November 7.
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