2022's Prey established the perfect formula for future Predator sequels. For a long time, the Predator franchise stuck to a familiar style. The sequels to 1987's Predator added more and more action to the original premise, with more predators, more human protagonists, and even crossovers with Alien's Xenomorphs. All that changed with Prey, which cut back on the franchise's hard sci-fi aspects to focus on the survivor, Amber Midthunder's Naru, in her small-scale, high-stakes quest to survive the hunt of one single Yautja.
Prey's critical success not only heralds the revival of the Predator franchise, but also opens the door for other standalone movies. With Naru's story neatly wrapped up, future Prey sequels could follow a different set of predator and prey altogether. Prey shows that the Yatuja can show up anywhere in the world at any point in history, so future stories can explore fresh scenarios without being limited to any specific era or location. Instead of a continuous string of cookie-cutter sequels, the Predator franchise can become an anthology where each movie stands as a self-contained story in a unique setting.
Is Prey 2 Going To Happen? What We Know
Beyond vague comments from director Dan Trachtenberg and star Amber Midthunder, 2022 hasn't seen any solid Prey 2 updates after the release of Prey. The main subject of speculation is the potential sequel's story and whether Prey 2 will pay off the tease from Prey's animated end-title sequence, which set up the return of more Predators immediately afterward. That sequence, together with the incorporation of the flintlock pistol from 1990's Predator 2, raises hope for a direct continuation of Prey's story and its connection to previous Predator movies.
Prey Should Lead To More Predator Movies (Not Just Prey 2)
The possibility of more Predator movies that are not connected to the events of Prey still stands. Aside from a direct Prey sequel, Prey could spawn new independent stories set in the Predator universe, which would only share Prey's theme and style. In the era of vast franchises and shared cinematic universes, Predator is overdue for more sequels, spinoffs, or perhaps even an anthology series where each episode takes place in a specific setting but still continues to develop the general Predator mythos.
From prehistory to ancient Japan to the Wild West, there are countless different cultures to choose from, and each of them can react to the Predators in vastly different ways. The Yautja themselves can use different strategies such as sending all eight kinds of Predators, and they can also differ in every hunting method they use. Prey's Predator is an inexperienced Yautja, so it would be interesting to see how other hunters adapt their skills to fight their respective human counterparts in future Predator movies.