The Stranger Things Cameo In Predator: Badlands You Probably Missed

This month's "Predator: Badlands" is a unique film in the "Predator" franchise for many reasons. The movie has a very small cast of characters, perhaps the smallest of any "Predator" film thus far. Yet, despite the movie's tight focus on Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi), and Thia (Elle Fanning), "Badlands" never feels small. It showcases not just the Predator homeworld of Yautja Prime, but a deadly alien planet called Genna, which is filled with all sorts of killer flora and fauna. However, despite these expansive worlds where the film takes place, there aren't large numbers of characters included that could allow folks sneak in for little cameo roles.

Leave it to the creators of "Stranger Things," Matt and Ross Duffer, to upend those expectations. While the Duffer Brothers don't appear on screen, they lend their voices to the computer for the Yautja ship initially owned by Kwei (Mike Homik), Dek's brother, before Dek inherits it through circumstance. This is unexpected not just given that it's the Duffers of all people, but that "Badlands" makes a point out of double casting its actors. To wit, Schuster-Koloamatangi plays both Dek and Njohrr, aka the Apex Predator, which is Dek and Kwei's father. Fanning plays both Thia and her "sister" Weyland-Yutani synthetic, Tessa, and Cameron Brown plays the Drone Synth, aka the myriad other Weyland-Yutani synthetics under Tessa's command. Yet while the Duffers' aural appearance may be unanticipated, it makes more sense once one factors in one of director Dan Trachtenberg's major influences in making "Badlands."

Obviously, Matt and Ross Duffer are not known for their acting chops. After all, their only credited role on IMDb pre-"Badlands" is for an appearance in a short film from 2008 entitled "The Milkman." While filmmakers tapping other filmmakers for tiny cameos is certainly nothing new, there's a more specific homage that Trachtenberg is likely aiming at with the Duffers' casting. During a recent interview with Empire magazine, Trachtenberg revealed that one of the major inspirations for "Badlands" came from the teaser trailer for JJ Abrams' "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which promised that a Stormtrooper, Finn (John Boyega), would become a protagonist and a hero. In addition to introducing that subversive concept into the "Star Wars" mythos (thus providing Trachtenberg with a similar take on "Predator"), "The Force Awakens" featured a slew of celebrity cameos.

Thus, not only is the vocal appearance of Matt and Ross Duffer a cute homage to the parade of cameos in "The Force Awakens," it's also a clever nod to their own successful Netflix series, one which closes a sneaky little reference loop. Not only is 1987's "Predator" one of the most iconic genre films of the '80s, whose pop culture "Stranger Things" routinely references and celebrates, but it also provided inspiration for the name of one of the series' main characters. In "Predator," one of the soldiers found skinned alive by the Yautja in Central America is named Jim Hopper, and in "Stranger Things," David Harbour plays Hawkins, Indiana Sheriff Jim Hopper. While we're not quite at "Wes Craven and Sam Raimi trading nods" levels yet, this may be the beginning of a reference game between the Duffers and the "Predator" franchise.