Prey (2022 film)


Prey is a 2022 American science fiction action horror film directed by Dan Trachtenberg from a screenplay by Patrick Aison, based on a story by Aison and Trachtenberg. It is the fifth installment in the Predator film series. The story takes place chronologically before the previous films, as it is set in the Northern Great Plains in 1719. It stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennett Taylor. The story revolves around a young Comanche woman, Naru, who is striving to prove herself as a hunter. She finds herself having to protect her people from a vicious, humanoid alien that hunts humans for sport.
Development of the film began during the production of The Predator, when producer John Davis was approached by Trachtenberg and Aison, with a concept that they had been developing since 2016. In late 2020, the film's title was revealed. Principal photography took place around Calgary during the summer of 2021, with most of the film being filmed in English, with some sequences being shot in Comanche and French as well. A full Comanche language dub was provided for the film, with the cast reprising their roles, thus making it the first feature film to do so.
Prey premiered at San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2022, and was released by 20th Century Studios as a Hulu original film in the United States on August 5. The film received positive reviews from critics and high viewership, leading Trachtenberg to direct two additional Predator films, Predator: Killer of Killers and Predator: Badlands, both released in 2025.

Plot

In 1719 in the Great Plains, Naru, a young Comanche woman trained as a healer, dreams of becoming a great hunter like her brother, Taabe. While tracking deer, she witnesses strange lights in the sky, which she believes to be a Thunderbird, and a sign that she is ready to become a hunter. However, they are actually from a Predator dropship.
A member of the tribe, named Puhi, is taken by a lion and Naru uses her tracking skills to assist a search party, led by Taabe. The search party finds Puhi alive, but wounded. All members, except for Taabe, Naru, and Paake, leave to take him back to the tribe. The three set a trap for the lion, but it kills Paake. Naru faces off with the lion, but is knocked unconscious after being distracted by strange sounds and lights in the distance.
Naru awakens at home, having been carried back by Taabe. He later returns to the village after killing the lion, earning him the title of War Chief. Convinced that there is a greater threat in the woods, Naru departs with her dog, Sarii. She stumbles into a bog pit and narrowly escapes, before being attacked by a grizzly bear. She is able to escape after it is attacked and killed by the Predator. Shortly after, she runs into a group of Comanche, sent to find her. The Predator, which Naru calls a "Mupitsi" ambushes and kills the men. While running away, she is caught in a foothold trap.
French voyageurs, who had set the trap, find Naru, and cage her and Sarii. Their interpreter, Raphael Adolini, questions Naru about the Predator, whom the Frenchmen have encountered before. When she refuses to talk, the lead voyageur reveals that Taabe is also their captive. The next morning, the Frenchmen use both siblings as bait for the Predator, which they intend to capture. The Predator ignores Taabe and Naru and kills most of the Frenchmen. Freeing themselves during the fight, Taabe and Naru split up to get horses, and Sarii, respectively. Naru rescues Sarii from the French camp and sends him to find Taabe. Raphael, having dragged himself back to the camp, teaches Naru how to use his flintlock pistol in exchange for treatment of his severed leg. As part of the treatment, Naru gives him herbs that have the side effect of reducing his body heat. The Predator arrives and tracks the blood from Raphael's leg, but does not see Raphael, leading Naru to realize that his reduced heat must have made him invisible to the Predator. The Predator then kills Raphael after accidentally stepping on him. Sarii returns with Taabe, who fights the Predator on horseback. During the fight, Naru notices that the Predator's spears are aimed using its mask. Although able to wound it several times, Taabe is killed by the Predator, but not before giving Naru time to escape.
Naru finds the surviving lead voyageur and uses him as bait for the Predator. After consuming the herbs to hide her body heat, she ambushes it, using Raphael's pistol, and removes its mask. Stealing the device, she positions it to face the bog in which she had previously been caught. Naru battles the Predator and lures it into the bog, where it becomes mired. It fires the spear gun at Naru and the mask guides the projectile back into its head, killing it. Naru severs its head and paints her face with its glowing green blood. She returns with its head to her village, where she is declared the new War Chief. Naru informs her tribe that it is time for them to move.
During the credits, the narrative is summarized in a series of ledger art paintings that ends with a depiction of three Predator vessels descending towards the tribe.

Cast

  • Amber Midthunder as Naru, a young Comanche warrior who protects her tribe against a Predator, becoming a war leader.
  • Dakota Beavers as Taabe, Naru's brother and a skilled hunter who becomes a war leader. In August 2022, Bennett Taylor confirmed that the script for Prey revealed Billy Sole, a Native American tracker and scout played by Sonny Landham in the original Predator, to be a reincarnation of Taabe, reframing his "last stand" with that film's Predator as being due to subconscious memories of a past life.
  • Dane DiLiegro as the Feral Predator, shown to wield primitive versions of the advanced weaponry used by Predators in previous future-set films, which Naru calls a Mupitsi after a monster in Comanche folklore.
  • Michelle Thrush as Aruka, Naru and Taabe's mother
  • Julian Black Antelope as Chief Kehetu
  • Corvin Mack as Paaka
  • Coco as Sarii, Naru's dog companion
  • Stormee Kipp as Wasape, a Comanche hunter who looks down on Naru
  • Mike Paterson as Big Beard
  • Bennett Taylor as Captain Raphael Adolini, an Italian translator hired by the French. This character was first alluded to in Predator 2 and later depicted in the comic book Predator: 1718, which Taylor read as the basis for his performance, Trachtenberg permitting him to rewrite his lines based on the storyline.
  • Nelson Leis as Waxed Mustache
  • Troy Mundle as Spyglass
  • Harlan Blayne Kytwayhat as Itsee

    Production

Development and casting

The film began development during the production of the prior Predator film, titled The Predator, when producer John Davis was approached by Dan Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison, with a concept they had been working on since 2016. Trachtenberg said that he only had an idea about "someone trying to prove themselves and what they could be up against," that turned out to fit well into the Predator franchise, as showing a Native American "using your smarts and ingenuity" against more technologically advanced adversaries showed that "there's no set of brawn other than fortitude that can allow you to succeed against the impossible". He also said that it was an attempt at giving a full movie to a character similar to Billy from the original Predator, a Native American who decides to stand up against the alien. 20th Century Studios production president Emma Watts fast-tracked the development of the film, which was expected to be R-rated.
In December 2019, the film was initially under wraps, going by the name of Skulls. The film reportedly was to "follow a Comanche woman who goes against gender norms and traditions to become a warrior". It was to be directed by Trachtenberg and written by Aison. Cast auditions were held in February 2020, before pre-production was shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2020, Skulls was revealed to be a codename for a fifth installment in the Predator franchise, with the same creative team working on the film. Upon the announcement, Trachtenberg indicated that the original intention was to market the film with no reference to the Predators, something no longer possible with the confirmation of the film's place in the franchise. Prey had been the first title for the film that Trachtenberg proposed, serving as "a mirror to the main franchise" and intending for it to serve as a standalone installment due to production of Shane Black's The Predator. He also chose the title as he wanted to avoid traditional naming conventions for franchise films and considered there was sufficient precedent to do so. The Comanche were chosen as the central tribe because Trachtenberg considered them "the most fierce warriors to walk this continent, arguably, and they were incredibly innovative." He also wished to portray them as the heroes instead of their usual portrayal as sidekicks or villains.
In May 2021, Amber Midthunder was announced to star. On November 12, 2021, Disney+ Day, the film was given the title Prey, and announced for a mid-2022 release on Hulu and Disney+ internationally. Trachtenberg explained his goal for the film was to get back to the roots of the franchise: "the ingenuity of a human being who won't give up, who's able to observe and interpret, basically being able to beat a stronger, more powerful, well-armed force". Dane DiLiegro ended up becoming the Predator because Dan Trachtenberg sought a different type compared to the original portrayer Kevin Peter Hall's "WWF 1987 wrestler standoff type thing", leading to someone with a more 'feline' athletic body, that would also allow what effects artist Alec Gillis described as "some elegance and fluidity of movement as opposed to the Hulking Stuntman School of Suit Performance."