Copyright Screen Rant
Before Predator: Badlands became a Yautja and Weyland-Yutani synth team-up, director Dan Trachtenberg had other exciting ideas for how to position the Predator as the protagonist for the first time in franchise history. At one point, that even included a potential World War II setting, somewhat harking back to the 1987 Predator movie's paramilitary roots. In an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan, director Dan Trachtenberg revealed that an early scrapped idea for Predator: Badlands would have seen the Yautja take on Nazis. The concept sprung out of Trachtenberg trying to figure out how to situate the Predator as the hero, which, if he went in the direction of having the Yautja win against humans, would mean finding a group of bad guys audiences wouldn't be rooting for: "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! 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." The Yautja code in Predator directs them to hunt the most dangerous killers to seek the most glory, which has led to a variety of prey throughout the franchise. That includes the paramilitary team in Predator, police and drug cartels in Predator 2, various proficient killers in Predators, soldiers with PTSD in The Predator, Comanche hunters and French fur traders in Prey, and warriors from various periods in Predator: Killer of Killers. However, there's always been a reason to root for at least most of the human characters. Hollywood's Nazi-hunting projects like Inglourious Basterds, Sisu, and Prime Video's Hunters have seen proven popularity over the years, and it's a concept that would easily fit into the overall "killer of killers" premise of the Predator franchise. While military personnel have often played a part, it's surprising that Predator has yet to feature a movie with a full-scale World War I or II setting for the Yautja's hunting grounds. However, Predator: Killer of Killers did dip its toes in the water of a World War II setting during "The Bullet" section of the anthology film. Set in 1942, that animated story focused on a U.S. Navy fighter pilot caught in a battle with the Pilot Predator attacking both sides of the war. As such, while we've briefly seen a Yautja insert itself into an ongoing battle, we haven't seen it target one troop in the midst of one of the world wars for an entire feature film. Though Dan Trachtenberg has plans for another Predator movie after Badlands, it seems unlikely that a live-action Nazi-hunting World War II movie with the Yautja will come to fruition anytime soon. Trachtenberg has been focused on taking the franchise where it's never gone before, so the next installment would likely feature a premise with an entirely different direction from his potential Badlands angles. Ultimately, Trachtenberg found the right concept for Badlands to dive deep into the Yautja culture, build the Predator into a protagonist with traits and an underdog story that audiences can relate to, and avoid undermining his heroic role by refusing to include any human characters.
