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This fall, Predator: Badlands will shake up the Predator franchise by putting one of the title creatures in the leading role in the film. Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) isn’t like any of the Predators who have previously appeared, but gamers are probably very familiar with the video games that director and writer Dan Trachtenberg used for inspiration.
“There’s a few that have influenced me over the years and definitely come together in this,” Trachtenberg told IGN. “One would be the combination of Half-Life 2, when you meet the robot dog, it’s like your pet, but you befriend it. And the reboot of Prince of Persia and Uncharted where it’s like having the companion along with the journey makes it that much more rich and entertaining. And then of course, the 2018 God of War. All of that influenced the nature of Dek and Thia in this movie, along with many other things.”
Thia is the android character played by Elle Fanning, and she provides a link to the Alien franchise because she was built by the Weyland-Yutani corporation. During Badlands, Dek will carry Thia around on his back, which he noted was inspired by Chewbacca holding C-3PO on his back in The Empire Strikes Back.
Trachtenberg has previously said that the unusual dynamic shared by Dek and Thia was inspired by Shadow of the Colossus, a PS2 game that debuted in 2005. “I’ve been very inspired by video games [like] Shadow of the Colossus, where you have a protagonist paired with someone else who provides color and connection,” said Trachtenberg in April. “[Dek is] very laconic, [Thia] is not. She’s capable in ways that he is not.”
Predator: Badlands will hit theaters on November 7.
