Before PREDATOR: BADLANDS, Dan Trachtenberg Had The Predator Hunting Nazis in World War II
Before Dan Trachtenberg landed on the brutal and ambitious story for Predator: Badlands, the filmmaker behind Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers had a very different idea in mind, one that would’ve dropped the galaxy’s deadliest hunter right into the chaos of World War II to take on the Nazis.
Trachtenberg, who’s quickly become the creative heartbeat of the Predator franchise, recently revealed during an interview with Screen Rant that Badlands started out as a completely different kind of story. His initial concept focused on showing a version of the Predator who actually wins for once.
“It really was from trying to figure out what the franchise had done before. There was this fan-grown sentiment of ‘Why does the Predator always get his ass kicked?’ He’s supposed to be the galaxy’s greatest hunter and we always see him lose!”
That simple question sparked an exciting creative challenge, how do you make the Predator victorious without turning the movie into a standard slasher where the villain simply kills everyone?
“So I tried to figure out a story that embraces, ‘What if the Predator wins?’ But I didn’t want to just make a slasher movie where the bad guy wins in the end.
“At first, I was like, ‘Well, maybe it could be him versus Nazis or something,’ but none of it really clicked until I found my footing in making it about a Predator in an insanely intense, brutal clan that’s trying to prove its worth.”
That idea eventually evolved into Predator: Badlands, which breaks new ground for the franchise by putting the Yautja at the center of the story for the first time. Still, a Predator vs. Nazis film feels like too good of a concept to let go of completely.
The idea of dropping a Yautja into the middle of WWII has massive potential. It taps directly into the creature’s core drive, hunting the strongest prey, and the war provides the perfect stage for that.
Imagine a Yautja stalking soldiers through bombed-out cities, shadowy forests, and crumbling bunkers. Fans already got a brief taste of what that could look like in the “The Bullet” chapter of Killer of Killers, and it left people wanting more.
If Badlands continues the franchise’s winning streak (and early reviews suggest it will), there’s a good chance Trachtenberg will get more opportunities to keep exploring new corners of the Predator universe. A WWII story could fit perfectly as a standalone adventure, especially now that the groundwork has been laid for the Yautja to take the lead role.
Beyond that, Trachtenberg has also hinted that he’s taking a patient, world-building approach to this franchis, one that mirrors the early days of the MCU. Rather than rushing into a big crossover like Alien vs. Predator, he wants each story to stand strong on its own first.
A smaller-scale movie where a Yautja hunts Nazi soldiers could easily fit into that vision. It would expand the mythology, offer a new historical backdrop, and let the Predator goes crazy killing Nazis.
A story told from the Yautja’s perspective, with humanity as the enemy, would be a fascinating twist that both honors and redefines what makes Predator so compelling. And a WWII setting would separate it enough from the rest of the Alien and Predator timelines to let Trachtenberg do something wild and fresh.
So while Predator: Badlands is an awesome, intense, character-driven entry, here’s hoping that “Yautja vs. Nazis” isn’t an idea that stays buried.