Predator: Badlands

Did You Know?

• Practical effects make a huge return. Over 70% of Predator shots use practical suits, animatronics, and real prosthetics rather than full CGI.
• Elle Fanning performed many of her own stunts, including several scenes that required intense physical conditioning for long takes in rough terrain.
• The Predator suit is one of the lightest ever created, thanks to a redesigned internal harness system that reduces actor strain during long stunt sequences.
• The Badlands setting is inspired by real U.S. and South African geographic formations, blending desert, canyon, and savanna environments into a unique biome.
• Dimitrius trained with military survival specialists for weeks to prepare for his role as a frontier tracker.
• The film’s sound design references the original 1987 Predator clicks, but with layered, more animalistic variants to reflect the creature’s evolutionary adaptations.
• The director revealed that the Predator in this movie is an “elite solitary hunter”, not affiliated with a clan — which explains its unique armor and behavior.
• Several scenes were shot using only natural light, enhancing the gritty, grounded atmosphere of the Badlands.
• A blink-and-you-miss-it easter egg references the 2010 film Predators, connecting Badlands to the wider franchise timeline.
• Early drafts of the script had the story set in a winter wasteland, but the director changed it to a desert frontier to represent a “return to the franchise’s primal roots.”