‘Can we still be doing something cool?’: The mastermind behind the resurgent 7th chapter in a stagnant saga refusing to fall into familiar traps

Having been sequelized, crossed over, and rebooted twice over without managing to secure a solid foothold, the jury was out on whether or not Predator would ever be able to reclaim its place among the top tier of sci-fi franchises. At least, until Dan Trachtenberg came along and rewrote the rule book with Prey.

Not just the best-reviewed entry in the entire long-running series – no mean feat considering the Arnold Schwarzenegger original is a certifiable classic of science fiction, action, and horror all at once – the period piece even found awards season recognition after landing an impressive six nominations from the Primetime Emmys.

Naturally, everybody wants a sequel to happen sooner rather than later, but Trachtenberg admitted to ComicBook that he’s got no interest in knocking one out just for the sake of it.

“You finally asked the right question. For everyone who’s been asking me about sequels, it’s like, that is the thing, is that oftentimes someone does a cool thing and the sequel is just….and then the next part, and then it’s like, oh, well then that’s just following up the cool. That isn’t what that thing was. And so yes, in thinking about what sequels could be, the primary conversation was and always will be, what we can do that is also special, that hasn’t happened yet. Not just for the Predator franchise, but for this kind of genre in particular. Can we still be doing something cool?”

That’s fair when Predator has been through so many coats of creative paint already that the bucket was left empty, although the filmmaker did expound on his comments by sharing his approach to crafting beats that won’t be found anywhere else.

“A thing I say quite a bit in the development phase is make sure that everything is only this movie, only this movie can we get this kind of scene or that kind of sequence. Don’t want to have a scene in here that’s like, oh, that could have been in the other Predator movies, or that could have been this Marvel film or this Star Wars. Only in this movie can you get this kind of thing.”

If Disney had any sense, it would throw money at Trachtenberg’s door to get that follow-up ASAP, and based on the response, it definitely wouldn’t be an unwise move to release it in theaters this time.