Predator: Badlands is on Hulu now for people who missed it during the movie’s theatrical run, and some fans accidentally found a new way to watch the movie. This film has helped the continued resurrection of a sci-fi franchise that seemed to be long dead. After the cult classic original film with Arnold Schwarzenegger, a lackluster sequel arrived, and then the later movies were either underrated and underwatched (2010s Predators) or poorly received (2018’s The Predator). The less said about the Alien crossovers, the better. However, things changed when Dan Tratchenberg joined the franchise and released Prey in 2022 and Predator: Killer of Killers in 2025.
Predator: Badlands in 2025 continued the success of Tratchenberg’s new vision for the franchise. In fact, Tratchenberg was so successful in building the new franchise that he made a movie that fans realized they could understand even without using subtitles. In a humorous X post, a user named X Force 137 commented that they didn’t even realize there were subtitles and still enjoyed and understood the movie.
“I really watched the entirety of Predator Badlands without subtitles thinking it was an artistic choice… just sitting there like this trying to translate and understand Yautja,” the user wrote. They then added, “I was understanding it too that’s the funny thing.”
I really watched the entirety of Predator Badlands without subtitles thinking it was an artistic choice… just sitting there like this trying to translate and understand Yautja 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/KtDWCDmqMI
— X Force 137 (@137Force) February 20, 2026
What they were referring to was that Dek, the Yautja, spoke in his language, with the subtitles showing what he was saying in the movie. However, since this one viewer didn’t know about the subtitles while watching the film at home, he didn’t turn them on and still understood what the alien was saying. Another X user mentioned that the Yautja’s expressions told what he was saying as much as any subtitled dialogue. Another said it might even be better without the subtitles, as that eliminates a lot of exposition.
Predator: Badlands Remains a Highlight of the Franchise
Image Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
No matter how a person watches Predator: Badlands, the movie remains a highlight of the franchise. While the first movie is a sci-fi horror classic, this film is a lot more of a found-family movie, and it avoids the pratfalls that many films make when trying to humanize monsters. The Yautja is still a stone-cold killer, but this movie showed a lot more nuance with the alien species than any movie in the franchise to this point.
This is why there was a lot of fear when Dan Trachtenberg signed a new first-look deal with Paramount Pictures, because he is the reason the Predator franchise is on such a high right now. However, the good news is that Trachtenberg is still onboard with the Predator franchise, and he will still be committed to this franchise even with the new movie ideas he will be pitching to Paramount in the future.
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