Rumor: Predator to Be in Alien: Romulus Sequel After Badlands

Rumors are circulating that the sequel to Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus will lead to another Predator vs. Alien project. This comes after the teaser trailer for the upcoming Predator: Badlands, helmed by Dan Trachtenberg, confirmed a connection between the two franchises. Notably, it hints that the two franchises share a universe, similar to how the connection was first established in Predator 2 (1990), which featured a Xenomorph skull inside a Predator trophy case.

Two crossover movies, Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), have come out to date, but they were rendered non-canonical in the Alien universe by Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). However, after the aforementioned connection, Predators and Aliens once again seem to be integrated.

A Predator rumored to be in Alien: Romulus sequel after Badlands

Journalist and industry scooper Jeff Sneider revealed on The Hot Mic podcast (at 44:22) that he had been “told that the script for Fede Álvarez’s follow-up to Alien: Romulus features a Predator.”

He disclosed this to his co-host John Rocha after stating that Elle Fanning plays twin synthetics made by Weyland-Yutani in Badlands. He noted that Alien and Predator were “mashing together,” and added, “These worlds are colliding.”

Like Romulus, 2022’s Prey was a critical and commercial success and breathed new life into the franchise it was part of. Last year, Álvarez stated that he would be interested in co-directing a crossover project with Trachtenberg. “Maybe it’s something I have to co-direct with my buddy Dan,” he said at the time. “Maybe we should do like Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez did with Dusk Till Dawn. I’ll direct a half, and he’ll direct another half,” he added. (via Deadline)

Accordingly, if what Sneider has said turns out to be accurate, we can speculate that there would be a third Alien and Predator crossover movie down the line. Steve Asbell of 20th Century Studios told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2024 that there would “probably” be another crossover, but added that it wouldn’t be in a way that fans might think. He emphasized that the future crossovers would be “organically created out of these two franchises.”