Sometimes, all it takes to push a risky idea forward is one encouraging voice, and in the case of the 2025 movie release, Predator: Badlands, that voice belonged to James Cameron. Director Dan Trachtenberg recently revealed how a few offhand comments from the Aliens filmmaker gave him the confidence to forge ahead with what might be the boldest Predator film yet, though Cameron himself might not remember the conversation that lit the spark.
Trachtenberg recently counted a dinner he had with the Cameron while prepping Badlands in New Zealand. At that point, Trachtenberg had just driven eight hours to visit the legendary director on the set of the upcoming Avatar: Fire and Ash. After walking the Terminator creator through his high-concept pitch for Badlands, the two sat down to eat, where Cameron delivered a line that stuck with Trachtenberg throughout production. As the filmmaker tells THR:
When he sat down [at dinner], he said, ‘I was just thinking about what you’re doing, and I think it’s going to work. So all that wind in my sails carried me back up to Auckland to tell my crew. The blessing of that guy — who has taken on some pretty impossible odds and pulled them off — was absolutely incredible.
However, months later, after Cameron watched a nearly finished cut of the movie, his feedback included a surprising admission. The Prey director added:
There were a few specific questions that I had in mind, and I wanted to see if he could give us any helpful notes. So he saw the movie a couple months back, and he said, ‘I have to be honest with you. When I first heard what you were doing, I did not think it was going to work. But holy crap, you pulled it off.’ He either did not remember that first conversation that meant a whole lot to me, or he really does know what someone in my position needs to hear to get things done. I think it’s more the latter. So he put wind in our sails at just the right times, and I had to make sure we gave him a special thanks.
With Badlands, Dan Trachtenberg flips the script, making a lone Yautja named Dek (played by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) the central protagonist. Set on the hostile planet Genna, the film pairs Dek with a Weyland-Yutani synth named Thia (Elle Fanning) as they navigate a brutal hunt for a mythical beast. It’s a major departure for the franchise and a risky one. However, with Cameron’s unexpected (and possibly subconscious) encouragement, Trachtenberg stayed the course.
So does James Cameron actually remember giving Predator: Badlands his early blessing? Maybe not. But, whether it was intentional encouragement or an accidental pep talk, it was precisely what Trachtenberg needed, and it earned the Titanic director a well-deserved shoutout in the film’s credits.
Also, it looks like those bold swings are paying off. Badlands, the ninth entry in the Predator franchise (if you count Alien vs. Predator and its sequel), is earning praise from both fans and critics. It currently holds an 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, along with a fan-driven 95% audience score—a rare feat for a franchise film this deep into its run.
In the end, whether Cameron remembers the moment or not, his influence lives in the DNA of a film that—much like some of the best sequels ever made, including his own Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day—dared to evolve. Predator: Badlands is now playing in theaters; check your local listings for showtimes.