Predator: Badlands Director Confirms the Whole Predator Carrying an Android Idea Was Inspired by Chewbacca Carrying C-3PO in Star Wars | SDCC 2025

If you’ve seen The Empire Strikes Back, you’ll astir apt retrieve Chewbacca carrying C-3PO successful pieces connected his backmost during the flight from Cloud City scene. It’s a country that has gone connected to beryllium featured successful assorted merchandise and adjacent the LEGO Star Wars games. Now, it has go the improbable inspiration down the cardinal thought of the upcoming Predator: Badlands movie.

In Predator: Badlands, Elle Fanning’s Thia strikes up an confederation with Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi’s young Predator, Dek. We spot Thia rebooted aft what looks similar a combat with immoderate benignant of monster. Thia is simply a Weyland-Yutani synth from the nefarious megacorp from the Alien franchise.

The occupation is, Thia has been chopped successful half, and her torso indispensable beryllium carried by the Yautja connected his backmost arsenic helium seeks retired what is described arsenic "a carnal that can’t beryllium killed" and "the definitive apex predator." Predator: Badlands’ moving title, Backpack, makes a batch much consciousness now.

It turns out, the Predator carrying a synth thought was straight inspired by Star Wars. In an interrogation with IGN astatine San Diego Comic-Con 2025, Predator manager Dan Trachtenberg confirmed the link, saying: “That was the archetypal inspiration for it.”

Star Wars, however, wasn’t the lone inspiration. In anterior interviews Trachtenberg has mentioned masterpiece Shadow of the Colossus arsenic inspiring Predator: Badlands, but it turns retired determination are galore different games that factored into the film’s companion mechanic, including Half-Life 2, Uncharted, and God of War.

Image credit: elf0curo / reddit.

“There's a fewer that person influenced maine implicit the years and decidedly travel unneurotic successful this,” Trachtenberg explained.

“One would beryllium the operation of Half-Life 2, erstwhile you conscionable the robot dog, it's similar your pet, but you befriend it, and the reboot of Prince of Persia, and Uncharted wherever it's similar having the companion on with the travel makes it that overmuch much affluent and entertaining. And past of course, the 2018 God of War. All of that influenced the quality of Dek and Thia successful this movie, on with galore different things.”

Predator fans volition beryllium keen to spot however this plays retired erstwhile Badlands hits theaters connected November 7, but they volition besides beryllium keen to spot however acold the wide Alien links go.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].