The firstPredator: Badlandstrailer revealed a surprising connection to another alien movie franchise,Independence Day. The 2025 live-actionPredatorfilm is the next to come from director Dan Trachtenberg, although its a very different offering from 2022’sPrey.Predator: Badlandsis taking some bold swings with its story, such as making aYautja hunter the protagonist. By making the killer alien the focal point of the story, there are opportunities for the film to dive deeper into the franchise’s lore with various types of world-building.
This is evident in thePredator: Badlandstrailerin a few ways. It didn’t take long to spot the big reveal thatElle Fanning’s character is connected toAlienas a Weyland-Yutani android. There are even additional Weyland-Yutani logos featured throughout the trailer in different spot. However,Alienis not the only sci-fi franchise thatPredator: Badlandsconnects to. It turns out there’s also a connection toIndependence Day. Yes, the 1996 action sci-fi film starring Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum has a direct reference inPredator: Badlands.
Predator: Badlands Includes A Harvester Skull From Independence Day
The Familiar Alien Design Is Featured
One of the earliest shots in thePredator: Badlandstrailer is of a Yautja trophy room. This is something the franchise has featured before in different films, includingPredator 2putting a Xenomorph skull among them. There isn’t one shown inPredator: Badlands, so far, but there is a focus on a skull in the middle of the room.The skull has two large eye holes below an enlarged section of the head that grows narroweruntil it reaches a point. That skull is a direct match for the Harvesters inIndependence Day.
The Harvesters have previously appeared in twoIndependence Dayfilms. The original 1996 movie introduced the shorter, telepathically powered aliens as they come to Earth. While the Harvesters were defeated at that point, they returned to Earth inIndependence Day: Resurgencefor another attack. The skull shown inPredator: Badlandsis a result of their natural appearance, which is typically concealed, in part, by armored suits. The presence ofthe Harvester skull here indicates that the Yautjahad previously encountered the alien race fromIndependence Dayandkilled one of them.
Do Predator & Independence Day Take Place In The Same Universe?
They Do Share A Connection
Predator: Badlandsis the first time thatPredatorandIndependence Dayhave crossed over. Yet, there is a connection between the two sci-fi franchises.They are both properties owned by 20th Century Studios(formerly 20th Century Fox) and, now, Walt Disney Studios. The studio ownership is how this crossover becomes possible. Whether it’s an indication that a properPredatorandIndependence Daycrossover movie is coming remains to be seen.
If this Easter egg is taken at face value,the potential that thePredatorandIndependence Dayfranchises exist in the same universe does raise continuity questions.Predator 2takes place in 1997, one year afterIndependence Day. Thereis nomention of the Harvester invasion inPredator 2, which is understandable in the real world but is a bit tougher to believe in-universe. Considering this world is also technically connected toAlien, the retroactive connections betweenPredator,Independence Day, andAlienmake it difficult to truly make sense 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 act as a fun detailfor sci-fi movie fans to catch. It becomes the latest example of Predator including loose connections to other sci-fi movie aliens.Alienhas been the one that’s been most connected toPredatorin the past, and that trend continues withPredator: Badlands. That only makes it cooler that the franchise is finally venturing out to tease other recognizable movie aliens the Yautja are superior to.
This also could be the studio’s way of testing the waters 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 intrigue me. The Harvesters' main purpose is universal domination and eliminating entire planets. That makes them a worthy foe for the Yautja as an alien race. If the franchise wants to continue the Yautja protagonist perspective afterPredator: Badlands, having the Harvesters invade Yautja Prime could make for a compelling story.
