'Predator: Badlands': How Did Elle Fanning's Sci-Fi's Ending Lay The Foundation For The Future?

We have seen an array of killer male 'Predators' in movies. However, the makers have now decided to twist the script a bit and introduce a female 'Predator'. But the biggest question is: What's a mommy 'Predator' going to be like? Franchise fans are going to find out what's in store for them sooner rather than later. If an intriguing cliffhanger tease pays off from the new film, Predator: Badlands.

Predator: Badlands sets the groundwork for the future of the sci-fi horror franchise

Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Badlands centers on a young outcast, 'Predator' named 'Dek' (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi). Undersized but scrappy, he wants to prove himself to his tribe on the 'Predator' planet of 'Yautja', especially after his father, 'Njohrr', wants 'Dek's' older brother, 'Kwei', to execute him. While 'Dek' escapes the unfateful death, his brother is killed by their father. The outcaste soon finds himself venturing to the planet, 'Genna', where all manner of plants and animals want only one thing: to murder you. 

However, 'Dek' meets and strikes a bargain with the android, 'Thia' (Elle Fanning): If he helps her get some new legs, she'll assist in finding the 'Kalisk'. Things get difficult for them both as the vengeful ending turns into an unexpected maternal appearance.

What happens in the ending of Predator: Badlands?

'Dek' and 'Thia' befriend a strange froggy creature they name 'Bud', who, just their luck, turns out to be a baby, 'Kalisk'. However, the duo also makes an enemy: 'Thia's' synthetic "sister", 'Tessa' (also essayed by Elle Fanning), whose mission is to bring the adult 'Kalisk' back to Earth. Nonetheless, 'Tessa' is eaten by the 'Kalisk' but lives and kills the 'Kalisk'. And when she threatens 'Thia', 'Bud' takes out the enemy android.

The new friends soon return to 'Yautja', bringing 'Tessa's' metal skull to 'Dek's' father, 'Njohrr', who, in a very toxic fatherly fashion, refuses to acknowledge his victory. So the youngster disarms and traps him in a laser force field, takes an invisibility cloak from his dad, and 'Bud' (who's grown a LOT during the trip) kills the elder 'Predator'. The movie ends with our heroes standing tall as other 'Predators' enter the picture.

Is there a post-credits surprise in Predator: Badlands?

Well, the final moments of the film have a 'kind of' surprise for the viewers. In the end, the movie's title appears on screen, but instead of the credits rolling, we immediately return to 'Yautja', where 'Dek' and 'Thia' watch as a large ship arrives in the distance. "Friends of yours?" 'Thia' asks. To which 'Dek' responds that "It's my mother." While we didn't get to see his mother, the scene, according to Trachtenberg, is "a lovely allusion to more heightened crazy emotional stakes, more heightened crazy physical stakes, and also a thing that we have not seen in the franchise." 

What are your thoughts on Predator: Badlands and the introduction of the first time in the franchise's history of a female 'Predator'?

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