“Prey” seemed like a big success for both 20th Century Studios and director Dan Trachtenberg as they attempted to infuse new blood into the “Predator” franchise after Shane Black‘s “The Predator” seemed to feel like they were running on fumes. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that a second film from Trachtenberg and the sixth franchise installment is indeed on the way under the working title of “Badlands.”

While details are scarce they are quick to point out that the film isn’t a direct sequel to “Prey” (Set in 1719) but will continue the last film’s angle of using a female protagonist and is said to jump into the future, which seems like a cue to the studio’s “Alien” franchise. This should give “Predator” fans hope that the franchise might start pushing toward the comic book and video game incarnations of the “Alien vs Predator,” where the hunters would bump into humans trying to colonize planets that happened to be gaming preserves.

How far into the future remains to be seen and if this will be another Earthbound adventure.

Patrick Aison (“Prey”) wrote the screenplay for “Badlands” with Trachtenberg working with Aison on the story. The report also mentions that more “Predator” projects are in the works that involve Trachtenberg, without dishing on exact details of what that means. Perhaps, we could end up getting a streaming series on Hulu/Disney+ not unlike what is happening with the “Alien” prequel show that hails from Noah Hawley (“Legion,” “Fargo”), but that is just an early assumption on our part.

UPDATE: Deadline adds in their version of the story that while it’s only in early development, “Prey 2” is still in the works and that Midthunder is expected to reprise the Naru role in it.

Rumors had pegged that a “Predator 6” would be a direct sequel to “Prey” with actress Amber Midthunder returning after a cliffhanger ending that teased the alien hunters’ return and potentially inducting Naru into one of the clans. Mirroring other humans that have joined Predator clans after proving themselves to be great warriors, similar to Machiko Noguchi (A character from the “AVP” comics). Given this reported time-jump there is nothing stopping them from bringing back Midthunder to play an ancestor of Naru, depending on the actual setting of the film as there is a good chance with a “future setting” they could move forward enough into this universe where there are off-world colonies (“Alien: Romulus” will feature a colony of humans fighting off a Xenomorph).

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that we’ll eventually get “Prey 2” but sounds like “Badlands” might be moving the franchise in a different direction. Perhaps, the ultimate goal is to lead directly in a futuristic off-world crossover between the “Alien” and “Predator” universes after the lackluster attempts with less-than-impressive “AVP” movies that took place in a contemporary Earthbound setting (Yawn, boring).

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER