Prey Director Dan Trachtenberg Has Sequel Ideas, And No, You Haven't Guessed Them Yet
"Prey" breathed new life into a decades-old franchise this summer with a chapter of the "Predator" saga that saw the alien species face off against a resilient Comanche warrior (Amber Midthunder). The movie was an immediate hit, wowing critics, and, according to Hulu, breaking their all-time record for original movie viewership. While there hasn't officially been a sequel announcement, the team behind the film has been open about their excitement for the future of the series. Now, director Dan Trachtenberg has revealed that he already has a sequel idea in mind.
"I would like to be involved, and I think there's several really cool things to do next," Trachtenberg said during an interview with Radio 1's Screen Time podcast. The filmmaker stays mum on his ideas, but says it "would be interesting to embark on a few different things."
Since "Prey" first hit Hulu, fans have been sharing ideas about the creative ways the "Predator" franchise could stay fresh by introducing an alien-fighting plot to any given point in history. Why not have pirates fighting Predators? Maybe the ancient Greeks?
Based on Trachtenberg's response to the sequel discussion, he seems to have noticed fans' unique ideas for the franchise but has his own plan that apparently doesn't match up with the ones we've been talking about. "I think some of the more exciting ideas are ones that people aren't considering," he said. "[...] Just as this movie was like, 'I can't believe they haven't made this yet,' there's a few other ideas out there, for me, that are, like, 'Oh, they haven't done this yet. This could be cool.'"
Where will the Predator go next?
This is vague enough that it could mean almost anything, but I wonder if his earlier statement holds the key to what "Prey 2" might look like. When Trachtenberg says he wants to "embark on a few different things," he starts to say "rather than..." before trailing off and finally finishing the sentence.
Could he have meant rather than telling one story at a time? In that case, could a "Prey" anthology film or even series be on the horizon? This would be a great way to tell multiple stories with drastically different settings and casts of characters, although it's also possible the basic alien-fighting premise would get repetitive in a TV format. "A few different things" could also mean multiple projects in development at once.
Of course, this is all just speculation at this point. So far, the only thing Trachtenberg has confirmed is that a moment of inspiration when it comes to the future of the franchise "may have already been had."
The filmmaker isn't the only person involved who has mentioned his hopes for the franchise's future. In a Variety retrospective, longtime franchise producer John Davis spoke about the Yautja's staying power, mentioning the ideas of an origin story, a modern interpretation, or another "Alien vs. Predator"-like face-off. "I think this character can show up throughout history," he told the outlet.
While Trachtenberg keeps ruminating on his sequel concept and we keep trying to guess what it could be, "Prey" is currently available to stream on Hulu.