Predator: Badlands flips the franchise’s 'If it bleeds, we can kill it' line

Dan Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands, released Nov. 5, 2025, deliberately subverts the franchise’s most famous line—“If it bleeds, we can kill it”—by telling its story without human characters and centering nonhuman hunters, the Yautja, from their own perspective. The original Predator quote came from Dutch, who hides in mud to mask his heat signature and declares, “If it bleeds, we can kill it,” a line that helped define the franchise’s lore around a hunter that tracks prey by heat.

Badlands shifts viewpoint: it follows Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), the runt of his clan trying to prove himself to a brutal father, and his encounter with Thia (Elle Fanning), a Weyland‑Yutani android, on what the article calls “the most dangerous planet in the galaxy.” The film is the first Predator entry told from the Yautja perspective.

The apparent pivot comes in who — and what — counts as a predator. Tessa, a Weyland‑Yutani android described as MU/TH/UR’s creature, becomes the true antagonist; androids in the film have a milky fluid instead of human blood, and characters like Thia are shown surviving extreme damage.

The piece notes Tessa operates a power loader in the climactic battle, and the film emphasizes the power of connection as Dek, allies and an alien friend named Bud play roles in defeating her. Trachtenberg, who previously directed Prey, is credited with returning emotional nuance to the Predator world.

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