'Prey' Director’s Comments Suggest That the 'Alien vs. Predator' Movies Are Canon

Since its inception in 1987, the Predator franchise has spawned three sequels and two spin-off movies. Needless to say, it’s a highly lucrative franchise, so it came as no surprise when Disney announced a new movie titled Prey (2022), which will be arriving on Hulu/Disney+ this summer.

The movie is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, who knows how to deliver effective suspense horror, having already given us 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016). And Prey certainly looks like it’s taking things back to basics for Predator, something the series desperately needs after The Predator (2018).

Check out the official trailer for Prey below:

As per 20th Century Studios and Hulu, here’s the official synopsis for the fifth film in the Predator series, Prey:

Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago during 1719, the film follows Naru, a fierce and highly skilled warrior, who has been raised in the shadow of some of the most legendary hunters who roam the Great Plains. So when danger threatens her camp, she sets out to protect her people. The prey she stalks, and ultimately confronts, turns out to be a highly evolved alien with a technologically advanced arsenal, resulting in a vicious and terrifying showdown between the two adversaries.

— 20th Century Studios and Hulu

Prey Predator — Credit: 20th Century Studios

As the Prey trailer seemingly tells us all we need to know about the film, in a recent interview with SFX Magazine (via Bloody Disgusting), Trachtenberg offered up some surprising details about the film, explaining how it connects to the previous movies in the franchise. He said:

“I want to specifically say this, because I think there’s been some confusion how people have understood: in my mind, this is not a prequel movie, this isn’t, ‘Let’s tell the origin of the Predator.’ This is really something that’s set prior to the original Predator movie. And the Predator creature in this one, this is its first time traveling to Earth.”

Trachtenberg also recently told ComicBook.com:

“I think this guy’s perhaps from a different hemisphere of the planet and a little bit of a different breed. So even his look is a little new.”

So Prey’s alien antagonist is no experienced warrior – at least not where our planet is concerned. He may have hunted other species across the cosmos, but this is his first rodeo with human beings, and it looks like he may have found his match in Amber Midthunder’s Naru.

But this is the opposite to what fans previously suspected about the film – that this would be the entire species’ first visit to Earth. However, it’s just this particular warrior’s first time here. As such, this means that the Alien vs Predator spin-off movies could actually be canon after all.

Alien vs Predator (2004) explains that Predators have been visiting Earth for millennia, hunting the Xenomorphs from the Alien movies inside temples as a rite of passage. But it has never been explicitly confirmed that this movie and its sequel Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007) are canon.

Where the Alien movies are concerned, the answer has always been a bit more obvious. Not only does the concept of Xenomorphs existing on Earth thousands of years ago contradict the premise of Alien (1979), the two prequels Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017) completely contradict the lore established in Alien vs Predator.

But it seems that Prey will at least make it possible for the two spin-off movies to be canon within the Predator universe — after all, who knows how long the alien warriors have been coming here.

Prey will premiere on August 5 on Hulu in the US, Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ internationally. It stars Amber Midthunder as the lead protagonist Naru.

Are you happy that the Alien vs. Predator movies are now seemingly canon? Let us know in the comments down below!

'Prey' Director’s Comments Suggest That the 'Alien vs. Predator' Movies Are Canon - Inside the Magic

‘Prey’ Director’s Comments Suggest That the ‘Alien vs. Predator’ Movies Are Canon