Predator: Badlands' Independence Day Easter Egg Explained

Predator: Badlands

The firstPredator : Badlandstrailer revealed a surprising connexion to another alien movie franchise , Independence Day . The 2025 live - actionPredatorfilm is the next to add up from director Dan Trachtenberg , although its a very unlike offering from 2022’sPrey . marauder : Badlandsis taking some bold golf shot with its story , such as making aYautja hunter the protagonist . By making the grampus disaffect the focal pointedness of the narrative , there are opportunities for the moving-picture show to dive deeper into the franchise ’s lore with various type of existence - construction .

This is observable in thePredator : Badlandstrailerin a few ways . It did n’t take long to blob the big reveal thatElle Fanning ’s character is touch base toAlienas a Weyland - Yutani mechanical man . There are even extra Weyland - Yutani Word feature throughout the poke in unlike spot . However , Alienis not the only sci - fi franchise thatPredator : Badlandsconnects to . It bend out there ’s also a connection toIndependence Day . Yes , the 1996 activity sci - fi movie starring Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum has a verbatim mention inPredator : Badlands .

Predator: Badlands Includes A Harvester Skull From Independence Day

The Familiar Alien Design Is Featured

One of the earlier shots in thePredator : Badlandstrailer is of a Yautja trophy way . This is something the enfranchisement has featured before in different film , includingPredator 2putting a Xenomorph skull among them . There is n’t one shown inPredator : Badlands , so far , but there is a direction on a skull in the middle of the elbow room . The skull has two gravid heart hollow below an blown-up section of the head that raise narroweruntil it reaches a point . That skull is a lineal match for the Harvesters inIndependence Day .

The Harvesters have antecedently appear in twoIndependence Dayfilms . The original 1996 moving picture introduced the shorter , telepathically power extraterrestrial as they make out to Earth . While the Harvesters were shoot down at that detail , they return to Earth inIndependence Day : Resurgencefor another flack . The skull establish inPredator : Badlandsis a result of their natural appearance , which is typically hold in , in part , by armored suit of clothes . The presence ofthe Harvester skull here indicate that the Yautjahad antecedently see the exotic backwash fromIndependence Dayandkilled one of them .

Do Predator & Independence Day Take Place In The Same Universe?

Predator : Badlandsis the first time thatPredatorandIndependence Dayhave crossed over . Yet , there is a connecter between the two sci - fi franchise . They are both properties owned by 20th Century Studios(formerly 20th Century Fox ) and , now , Walt Disney Studios . The studio apartment possession is how this crossover becomes potential . Whether it ’s an indicant that a properPredatorandIndependence Daycrossover movie is come remains to be seen .

If this Easter nut is taken at face value , the potential that thePredatorandIndependence Dayfranchises survive in the same universe does rear continuity interrogative . Predator 2takes stead in 1997 , one year afterIndependence twenty-four hour period . Thereis nomention of the Harvester encroachment inPredator 2 , which is understandable in the actual world but is a bite tougher to believe in - population . Considering this humankind is also technically connected toAlien , the retroactive connections betweenPredator , Independence Day , andAlienmake it hard to really make sensory faculty of a timeline and how they ’re all related .

Predator: Badlands' Independence Day Easter Egg Continues A Great Franchise Tradition

Predator Loves Other Movie Aliens

Since there are no confirmed plans for a properPredatorandIndependence Daycrossover , the Harvester skull Easter egg is mostly meant to work as a fun detailfor sci - fi movie fan to arrest . It becomes the latest example of piranha admit sluttish connection to other sci - fi movie aliens . Alienhas been the one that ’s been most link toPredatorin the past , and that trend continues withPredator : Badlands . That only make it cooler that the dealership is lastly venturing out to fluff other recognizable movie alien the Yautja are ranking to .

This also could be the studio apartment ’s way of testing the piss for whether audiences are interested in aPredatorandIndependence Daycrossover . It ’s not something I ever really considered before . But , now it ’s an idea that does scheme me . The Harvesters ' main purpose is universal domination and eliminating entire planet . That do them a suitable foe for the Yautja as an alien race . If the franchise want to keep the Yautja protagonist position afterPredator : Badlands , make the Harvesters infest Yautja Prime could make for a compelling level .