Predator: Killer Of Killers Director Explains Why The Yautja Look So Different In The New Movie [Exclusive]

Sci-fi fans, animation appreciators, and action junkies were all being fed well this past weekend, thanks to the gory joys of "Predator: Killer of Killers." The sixth film in the franchise truly took things far beyond where we've ever seen them go before — and not just because this played out in animation, as opposed to the much more familiar live-action medium. In addition to the anthology setup, which smashes a trio of different time periods and characters together into a series of epic confrontations across the ages, the Yautja themselves underwent quite a facelift compared to how they've typically been depicted across the previous films. As it turns out, there's a very good reason for that.

"Killer of Killers" brings back "Prey" director Dan Trachtenberg, along with co-director Josh Wassung, and /Film's Ben Pearson recently had a chance to talk to Trachtenberg about the process of bringing this film to life. For any newcomers to the series out there, the "Predator" movies have always thrown some of the most aggressive Yautja hunters at their respective human protagonists. Having only ever exposed audiences to specially-honed aliens, the franchise has left it a bit of an open question as to whether there's more to the entire species than meets the eye. Luckily, we got to the bottom of that debate and, in the process, found out why each of the various Yautja we see in "Killer of Killers" look so startlingly different from one another.

According to Trachtenberg, he wanted to steer well clear of a certain "Star Wars" trope:

"We are only seeing one corner of their culture, but I do think [hunting is] a significant part of their culture. But in general, I'm a little bored by — and why they aren't all wearing the exact same mask and why they don't all look identical and why they behave in slightly different ways is, I get a little bored when we see Kashyyyk, the Wookiee planet or whatever, and they're all just a bunch of Chewbaccas. Some have a little bit of a gray fur and some of them [don't], but they're all basically just Chewbacca, just standing around being Wookiees."

A huge part of the fun in "Predator: Killer of Killers" comes from watching each of the uniquely-designed Yautja invade their respective time periods on Earth, use their highly-specialized weapons on ancient humans, and end up getting vanquished anyway. Of course, that meant that each of the various Predators needed to look, act, and feel distinct from each other. And, naturally, that results in a wide spectrum of alien appearances that range from scrawny, ninja-like Yautja to berserkers that seem more like walking tanks. This is something we've never actually seen in a "Predator" movie before, adding all sorts of fascinating lore-related wrinkles to the overall series.

Trachtenberg obviously wanted to switch things up in a major way, particularly when it comes to those Yautja designs. Luckily, "Star Wars" provided a blueprint of what not to do. He goes on to call out the quirky, one-size-fits-all planets like Hoth, Tatooine, and countless others that only ever showcase one single biome. "[Or an] ice planet. The entire planet is ice, as opposed to no, just like us, we have ice on this part of the planet. And it's kind of the exciting thing about Pandora, is it treats planetary stuff a little bit more realistically. Obviously, James Cameron's the master of that."

That led Trachtenberg and the entire animation team over at The Third Floor studio to take some big swings, visually. But that also influenced their approach to the Yautja themselves and, most importantly, the culture they possess that we've only barely scratched the surface of to this point. As Trachtenberg explains:

"I think species-wise, [the Yautja] should be as varied, at least, as we are. But there's definitely a culture rooted in warriordom, and I see them as a combination of, for lack of a better terms, the Frank Frazetta/Conan aesthetic and those fibers mixed with a Spartan-like culture that prides themselves on strength and brutality."

Will Trachtenberg's upcoming live-action film "Predator: Badlands" explore this in even greater detail? That seems likely, given that we seem to be journeying to a Yautja planet. We'll find out when "Badlands" hits theaters November 7, 2025. Until then, "Predator: Killer of Killers" is now streaming on Hulu.