Which Predator: Badlands Character Are You?

Learn More About Predator: Badlands

Predator: Badlands marks the biggest swing the franchise has taken since Arnold Schwarzenegger first hunted through a Central American jungle back in 1987. Directed and co-written by Dan Trachtenberg, who also reinvented the series with 2022’s Prey, Badlands does something the franchise had never done before: it makes a Yautja — a Predator — the actual hero of the story.

The film follows Dek, played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, a young Yautja cast out by his own clan for being seen as weak. Desperate to prove himself, Dek crash-lands on the deadly planet Genna and sets out to hunt the Kalisk, a legendary apex predator that has never been killed. Along the way he reluctantly teams up with Thia, a heavily damaged Weyland-Yutani synthetic played by Elle Fanning, who gradually turns against the very corporation that built her.

Fanning actually pulls double duty in the film, also playing Thia’s twin, Tessa — a colder, more mission-focused synthetic who does not share Thia’s growing compassion for organic life. That contrast between the two synths becomes one of the film’s more interesting threads, alongside Dek’s relationship with his golden-child older brother, Kwei, who represents everything Dek’s clan wanted him to be and was not.

Then there is Bud: an infant Kalisk who imprints on Dek and Thia early in the film and quickly steals every scene he is in. Bud has been compared to a certain green Star Wars breakout for good reason — he is small, strange-looking, and absurdly strong for his size, capable of tearing apart synthetic soldiers despite looking like something you would want to adopt. By the film’s end, Bud has grown considerably and sticks with Dek and Thia as they leave Genna behind, setting up plenty of room for a sequel.

Critically and commercially, Badlands has been a massive win for the franchise. It topped the worldwide box office on release and went on to become the highest-grossing Predator movie ever made domestically, pulling in more than $135 million globally. Reviews have been similarly strong, with especially high marks from audiences who responded to the film’s willingness to make a Predator sympathetic without losing the franchise’s trademark brutality.

Whether you relate most to Dek’s underdog determination, Thia’s slow-burn empathy, Tessa’s icy focus, Kwei’s golden-child pressure, or Bud’s pure chaotic loyalty, Badlands proved the Predator universe still has new angles left to explore. With Dan Trachtenberg reportedly already circling more stories in this corner of the franchise, Genna likely will not be the last hostile planet we see Dek and his strange little family survive.

Test your knowledge of the film with our companion trivia quiz, and check out our other movie character quizzes for more sci-fi and horror matchups.

Elle Fanning has spoken in interviews about approaching Thia’s physicality almost like a dancer, since the character’s damaged synthetic body moves differently than a typical human, glitching and recalibrating in ways that needed to be consistent and believable across the whole film. That attention to a non-human performance detail is part of why Thia has resonated with audiences as more than just a sidekick role.