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Predator: Badlands

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Main Trio

    Dek 

Dek

Characters in Predator: Badlands

Played By: Dimitrius Schuster-Kolomatangi

Voiced By: Dimitrius Schuster-Kolomatangi

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

A young unblooded Yautja eager to prove himself.


  • All of the Other Reindeer: Dek has lived his life up until the events of the movie being ostracized and bullied by other Yautja, including his own father, for being a runt. Only Kwei, his elder brother, shows him any decency.
  • Almighty Mom: While Njohrr is his final opponent in film, Dek is very worried by the arrival of another enemy ship and notes it's even worse than Yautja reinforcements. It's his mother.
  • Animal Motif: The Wolf. Thia tries to explain to him about how the Wolves on Earth are predators who live in packs and is led by an Alpha whose job is to protect the pack. At first, Dek misinterprets and assumes he would be an Alpha who kills the most. But in time, he has realized what Thia was telling him and accepted his role as Alpha to protect his pack such as Thia and Bud.
  • Beast and Beauty: The gruff, aloof, and serious Beast to Thia’s cheery, optimistic, and kindhearted Beauty.
  • The Beastmaster: He befriends Bud, who marks him as a member of his family which protects him from Bud's mother, the Kalisk. He also befriends an acid-spitting snake-like creature who rides on his shoulder and serves as a makeshift Shoulder Cannon.
  • Calling the Old Man Out: He returns to settle things with his father, demanding his cloak for completing a hunt. He really does not seem to expect the old man to agree and fully intends to avenge Kwei.
  • Character Development: Dek starts the film a strict adherent of the Yautja Codex, laser-focused on finding and killing the Kalisk and regaining his honor. But as the film goes on and Dek interacts with Thia and Bud his horizons widen and he finds himself caring for more than his own self-interest.
  • The Comically Serious: There are some funny moments where Dek's cold, stoic demeanor stands out as a sore thumb in contrast to the talkative whimsical Thia and the impish Bud's antics.
  • Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Naru. Both are young unblooded warriors of tribal communities, eager to prove themselves to the peers who underestimate and belittle them, both set off on a rite of passage to kill a seemingly unkillable alien creature and both lose a sibling to a yautja. Beyond the obvious differences (Naru was a human female, Dek is a yautja male), their main divergence is how their respective journeys end. Naru proves her capabilities as a warrior by overcoming the Feral Predator, earning the respect of her fellow Comanche whereas Dek ultimately defies the brutal expectations of the yautja and proves his own self worth a part from them.
  • Defrosting Ice King: When Dek stumbles upon Thia by chance, he sees her as nothing but a tool to help him hunt the Kallisk which is the only thing he cares about. But over time, he has come to care for her and Bud as well, switching his goals from hunting the Kallisk to reuniting the beast with its mother.
  • Family of Choice: By the end he has Thia and Bud as his true clan which he proudly admits to his father.
  • Foil: To Scar. Both are last surviving predators who team up with a female character Lex/Thia.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Dek may be a heroic Yautja, but he's still a Yautja to the core, and is more than willing to tear his enemies apart should the need arise.
  • Heroic BSoD: When he witnesses his brother being killed by their father.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Dek is the hero of the film and, after losing most of his gear to the vines, spends much of the movie wielding only his sword.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dek is a gruff, stern, taciturn and at times ruthless Yautja youngblood but compared the rest of his kind he's practically a giant teddy bear. He's willing to listen to outside advice, shows interest in Thia's problems even while dismissing her as a "tool" and, notably, never kills anything purely for sport (aside from the Kalisk) - only ever in self-defense or as sustenance.
  • Literal-Minded: He takes some human expressions at face value. For instance, when Thia says it's "sweet" of him to offer her some bone bison meat, he replies that the meat itself isn't sweet at all.
  • Master Swordsman: After some experience, Dek wields the Yautja plasma sword with absolute perfection to the point he can tear most enemies apart.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: While a Yautja to his core, which results in his eagerness to prove himself as all do, he grows quickly annoyed with the semantics that the Codex which determine how the legitimacy of a hunt is "conducted" and works to find creative Loophole Abuse when following the rules exactly to the letter would prove suicidal on Genna; which is how Dek is able to have Thia as an ally to begin with by using her status as a synth to denote her not as a "person" assisting him which is against the code, but a useful "tool" acquired on the hunt.
  • Patricide: Executes his cruel father Njohrr by siccing Bud on him after the elder Yautja still refuses to acknowledge his strength, avenging Kwei's murder in the process.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: He's a good deal shorter than other Yautja, yet it does nothing to diminish his badass credentials while he's on Genna.
  • Rules Lawyer: He's forced to engage in some pretty "creative" interpretation of the Yautja Codex in order to be able to complete his hunt on the Death World that is Genna while adhering to the letter of the overly restrictive tenets of the Codex.
  • Stealth Expert: He's a Yautja after all. One sequence is marked by him infiltrating a Synthetic guarded base and tearing through multiple enemies without raising an alarm. Notably, he does all of this before having earned his cloaking device.
  • Strong and Skilled: Initially a weak, unblooded hunter, Dek realizes his potential. He's just as powerful as other Yautja, while mastering his clan's weaponry and combining them with Genna's fauna to devastating effect.
  • Token Heroic Orc: Dek is the first unambiguously heroic Yautja seen in the franchise, compared to Scar, Wolf and Fugitive, who were still a bit too kill-crazy towards humans to be considered straightforward "heroes." He also realizes how hollow the concept of Yautja honor over the hunt is and chooses not to kill the Kalisk, instead accepting it as a comrade.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: At the film's start, Dek is a full adherent to the Yautja code with little care for morality beyond the hunt. He learns to truly value friends and allies, particularly Thia and Bud. He even foregoes fighting the Kalisk, accepting it as a friend as well by the end.
  • The Un-Favorite: Dek's father obviously favored his brother over him. Didn't stop him from killing him after he tried to defend his brother.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: He initially wants more than anything to prove his strength to his father, who always looked down on him for his relatively diminutive size. Then his father decides to have him executed over his stature and murders Dek's brother when he decides to intervene, and he stops seeing his father's approval as necessary. When he returns from Genna, it's pretty obvious he does not expect his father's approval even after completing his hunt and unhesitatingly goes in for the kill to avenge his brother after his father predictably continues to reject him.
  • You Killed My Father: An odd case, as the killer is his father, but Dek watches Njohrr kill his beloved elder Kwei in front of him for the crime of trying to protect Dek.
  • You're Not My Father: Dek disowns Njohrr at the film's end, saying Thia and Bud are his true clan.

    Thia 

Thia

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/badlands_trailer_36.webp

Played By: Elle Fanning

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

A damaged Weyland-Yutani Synth that accompanies Dek on his quest to slay the Kalisk.


  • Admiring the Abomination: The Yautja are seen as one of the most fearsome extraterrestrials in the Galaxy for anyone to encounter at their own peril. But Thia is actually excited at getting to meet someone like Dek, asking him a lot of questions about his race and culture much to his annoyance.
  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Completely turns against her masters. Of course, because she's the protagonist and said masters are Weyland-Yutani and their MU//TH//UR AI, this is portrayed as a good running.
  • Beast and Beauty: The cheery, optimistic, and kindhearted Beauty to Dek’s gruff, aloof, and serious Beast.
  • Cain and Abel: Thia's the kindhearted, optimistic Abel to Tessa's amoral Cain, aiding Dek in his quest to find the Kalisk and ultimately fighting against the Weyland-Yutani expedition force led by her sister.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Despite working on a Death World and having recently lost her lower half, she still remains frighteningly casual and carefree in even the most life-threatening situations.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Despite being seen as Dek as only a "tool" at first and using him in turn, Thia grows to deeply care for the young Yautja and becomes accepted by him as "Clan."
  • Foil: To Lex Woods — both are female characters pairing up with the Predator Scar/Dek; but whereas Lex only fell into aligning with Scar when they were out-of-options to escape the Xenomorph problem surrounding them at the time with them only respecting each other after all is said and done,Thia's relationship with Dek is substantially warmer much earlier in despite both of their non-human nature and work far better as a team as a result of their mutual trust.
  • Half the Woman She Used to Be: When first encountered by Dek, the entire lower half of her body below the waist in missing, having been ripped apart during a previous field mission to attempt to capture the Kalisk. Near the end of the movie she is reunited with her legs.
  • Major Injury Underreaction: As a Synth, she takes her entire lower body being torn away with stride like it is nothing. Although she does get annoyed when Dek accidentally crashes into her while fighting the Kallisk, causing her legs to get ripped off again while she was in the midst of repairing herself.
  • Motor Mouth: While Dek does speak, he tends to be more laconic and terse to not speak in length... which contrasts the chatty Thia significantly as she practically chats to herself for hours when Dek refuses to talk to her earlier on and even after, she still does a majority of the speaking between the two.
  • Nice Girl: Compared to Tessa, Thia is kind and polite to Dek.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Averted and played straight. When confronted by a drone synth, she modifies her appearance to look near identical to Tessa. Played straight in how she decided to disguise Bud.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Serves as a comedic foil to Dek, her plucky and energetic nature contrasting with his brooding and taciturn one.
  • To Be Lawful or Good: She's given the choice to hold to her loyalty to Weyland-Yutani or help Dek. She chooses the latter.

    Bud 

Bud

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bud.png

Played By: Rohinal Narayan

A bizarre alien creature that forms a pack with Dek and Thia.


  • Admiration-Based Mimicry: She does this to Dek, who unwittingly saved her life. She later does this to Thia while she's pretending to be Tessa, giving her away.
  • Androcle Lion: When they first met, Dek and Bud fought against each other as rivals over the Bone Bison. But then Dek managed to slay the beast for it, Bud chose to save Dek and Thia from being devoured by another monster out of gratitude
  • Badass Adorable: She's as cute as she is deadly.
  • Chekovs Gunman: At first glance, Bud just seems like one of the many bizarre alien creatures that Dek encounters on Genna who briefly saves his life but then abandons it in pursuit of the Kallisk. But then it turns out to be quite important by being the reason why the Kallisk spared Dek's life due to Bud actually being the monster's child.
  • Cute Monster: Bud is an odd little predator, but very adorable. By the end of the film, she's grown significantly and is starting to resemble her mother, the Kaliska, much more.
  • Fire-Forged Friends: While Thia is more immediately friendly out the gate with Dek despite his reluctance, Bud and Dek were throwing hands with each other over hunting the Bone Bison with Dek even attempting to kill the creature when it gets in his way one too many times... but when they end up saving each other from larger predators, Dek and Bud end up developing a deep connection even if reluctancy in the case of the former at first as they imprint on one another.
  • Good Is Not Soft: 'Good' may be a bit of a stretch, considering it's an animal, but Bud proves itself a reliable ally to Dek and Thia while also demonstrating why its kind is not to be messed with by decapitating Njohrr with a single bite to the head.
  • It Can Think: While clearly an animal, Bud demonstrates a lot of higher-levels of intelligence casually such as being able to make tools, pattern-recognition, rudimentary communication, and being able to coordinate almost entirely on their own in a complex strategy like the base raid on the Weyland-Yutani camp.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Why Thia thought the other synths wouldn't recognize a tiny armadillo monkey so long as it wore a rain poncho is beyond comprehension.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse: While Bud is a tiny critter about the size of a chimpanzee, it is also one that can tear apart a full synthetic to smithereens in mere seconds and even confidently attempt to hunt creatures like Bone Bison about fifteen times its size. The latter of which foreshadows that Bud is actually a baby Kalisk due to Bone Bison being a preferred food for them.
  • Mix-and-Match Critter: Looks like a chimpanzee covered in reptile skin and an armadillo shell.
  • Yank The Dog Chain: The creature just wanted

Weyland-Yutani

    Tessa 

Tessa

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tessa_weyland_yutani_synthetic_predator_badlands_33.webp

Played By: Elle Fanning

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

Leader of Weyland-Yutani's operations on Genna. A synthetic like Thia and her "sister".


  • A.I. Is a Crapshoot: In line with all Weyland-Yutani synths depicted on screen so far, if they've got a personality, you have no idea how they'll act. Significantly, she lies to MU//TH//UR about if Dek is alive.
  • All for Nothing: Despite all the sacrifices Tessa and her team has made to capture the Kallisk for Weyland-Yutani's interests, she was ultimately forced to kill the beast to save herself. Even if Dek, Thia, and Bud did not kill her, the company would most likely have her terminated for failing her mission. But at that point, Tessa is beyond caring at all what happens to her.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When we're introduced to her during her reboot sequence, her first thought is of Thia. In fact the reason their first hunt for the Kalisk failed at all was because Tessa prioritized saving Thia over their mission. For a given value of saved. [[spoiler: Subverted when it turns out that for as much as she cares for Thia, her mission takes priority over all. As soon as Thia proves to be a liability to their mission, Tessa doesn't hesitate to have her sister cast aside and locked up.
  • Big Bad: Serves as the central antagonist of the film and is the one that Dek ultimately claims for his hunt.
  • Cain and Abel: The amoral, ruthless Cain to Thia's kindly Abel, Tessa has no qualms about deactivating and murdering her own sister if it means fulfilling her company's nefarious goals.
  • Foil: Serves as this to Kwei, Dek's older brother. Thia looks up to her as a "sister" figure in the same way Dek looks up to Kwei, however they could not be any more different. Whereas Kwei, as rough and harsh he may be to Dek, he cared about him enough to save his brother from his father at the cost of his own life. As pleasant and gentle Tessa may be to Thia, she ultimately has no compunctions about having her sister discarded if she proved an obstacle to her mission.
  • Off with Her Head!: After the Kalisk proves to be both an ally and a friend, Tessa's robotic skull after killing her instead serves as definitive proof of Dek's success at his hunt per Yautja tradition of besting their "most dangerous prey". Njohrr however, refuses to accept it out of disdain towards his son anyway.
  • What You Are in the Dark:

    Drone Synths 

Drone Synths

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dan_trachtenberg_explains_new_weyland_yutani_drone_hunter_synths_predator_badlands_12.webp

Played By: Cameron Brown

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

An army of identical synthetics that serve as Tessa's guards, soldiers, and laborers during her operation on Genna.


  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: While competent enough to combat the harshness of Genna — these synthetics are nowhere near as intelligent or seemingly self-aware as other models like Ash, Bishop, David, Rook, or Thia and Tessa themselves, being exceptionally easy to trick multiple times with how dim they appear to be. Though it does seem to be justified as they are meant to be easily disposable grunts that can be replaced on a dime to save a buck not unlike Working Joes compared to more advanced and intelligent units meant to blend or socialize with people.
  • Mooks: Their role in the story is to provide the manual labor for Thia and Tessa and to give Dek and company some bad guys to fight.

Yautja

    Njohrr 

Njohrr

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/njohrr_yautja_clan_leader_deks_father_predator_badlands_40.jpg

Played By: Dimitrius Schuster-Kolomatangi

Voiced By: Dimitrius Schuster-Kolomatangi

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

Dek's father - an elder Yautja dedicated to upholding his clan's "honor".


  • Abusive Parents: Doesn't get much more abusive than being willing to murder your own son for being "a runt" and then murdering your other son when he sticks up for him.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When Dek has Njohrr entirely at his mercy, the elder Yautja tries to barter for his life by offering to pull strings to allow him the acclaim he wants if his son spares him.
  • Archnemesis Dad: He's Dek's most personal enemy and also his father.
  • Broken Pedestal: Dek starts off the film idolizing him, even shedding his own blood to honor Njohrr when his father comes for a visit. His father brutally murdering his own brother for protecting Dek and ordering Dek's death shatters Dek's respect for the elder Yautja.
  • Combat Pragmatist: While he is a legitimately skilled warrior, Njohrr has no compunctions using cloaking technology to gain an advantage in a fight.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To practically every single Predator antagonist prior to this film, whom while all villainous, had complicated codes of honor or at least principles that made them genuinely terrifying opponents because it made them fight to the last; Njohrr on the other hand, while appearing impressive out the gate, is a cowardly hypocrite who betrays the honor he claims he holds himself to. The fact he is also a Paper Tiger compared to every other Yautja antagonist shown on film when he finally is forced to fight Dek to the death, being disarmed in under a minute by his son, before trying to barter with his own life when at a point where any other of their kind would rather go down fighting really highlights how pathetic he actually is in contrast to other Yautja featured in film.
  • Cool Mask: For a ruthless and amoral hypocrite, Njohrr sure has a taste in fashion; his bio-mask has antler extensions on the top and fang-like spikes protruding from the front.
  • Dirty Coward: For all of Njohrr's talk of "honor", he's a coward happy to cloak himself to score an easy kill. The fact he lets his bodyguards fight Dek for him after his return, only to beg his son to spare him in exchange for having some strings pulled to allow him the acclaim he wants, solidifies how much of a spineless disgrace Njohrr really is beneath his pretensions.
  • Evil Old Folks: He's a visibly old Yautja and easily the most despicable character in the film.
  • Hate Sink: This guy represents all of the worst aspects of Yautja culture and philosophy, while going against the few redeemable qualities they are known to have. Despite being an Elder Yautja claiming to represent a position on honor, he is anything but honorable. His first scene in the film has him forcing an execution of his youngest son, Dek, without him being able to defend himself, simply because he's disgusted with him being "weak." When Kwei refuses to allow this and forces Dek to escape, Njohrr coldly murders him and even displays his head in clear view of Dek as the ship takes off. Even when Dek returns at the end of the film, fully blooded and an accomplished warrior from his time on Genna, Njohrr still refuses to honor him. He tries to kill him by first relying on his bodyguards to distract his son, then using his cloak to try and get a quick, dirty kill. When Dek endures, proving he actually is everything his father isn't and has him at his mercy, only then does Njohrr plead with his son to spare him. By then, however, Dek has resolved to be rid of his father's toxic influence for good.
  • Hypocrite: Despite being slavishly devoted to the Yautja's idea of "honor," Njohrr constantly demonstrates how dishonorable he really is beneath his trappings of grandeur. He cloaks himself in battle and, when asking why Kwei hasn't killed Dek yet, suggests that he should kill him in his sleep rather than at least face him in combat.
  • Impaled Palm: He gets stabbed through the hand by Dek's wristblades at the end an ironic call back to what he did to his eldest son at the beginning.
  • Karmic Death: After cruelly killing his eldest son at the beginning of the film when Kwei refuses to kill Dek while he's helpless, decapitating him just to taunt his "worthless son" as he's sent away, Njohr is left to the tender mercy of Bud after Dek literally disarms him, and Bud gruesomely eats the Elder Yautja head-first.
  • Kick the Dog: He comes and forces Kwei to execute his brother Dek for being a disappointment. But when Kwei decides to save Dek from being executed, their father literally disarms him in front of a helpless Dek before cruelly executing his eldest son.
  • Off with His Head!: He gets his head bitten off by Bud after Dek refuses to finish the dealing blow.
  • Offing the Offspring: He murders his eldest son Kwei without hesitation, for the crime of not murdering Dek, just because Njohrr considers his younger son weak.
  • Paper Tiger: For all his bluster about martial honor, Njohrr is shown to be all flash but no substance as a warrior primarily because he relies on dirty tactics over actual physical merit — something that is abundantly clear when he tries to kill his son again after he's been blooded by the gauntlet that is Genna. Once he's out of cheap tricks, he goes down rather easily.
  • Pet the Dog: The only degree of kindness he shows Dek is near the end when he witnesses him easily defeating and killing two yautja guards rather effortlessly and compliments him.
  • Post-Final Boss: After Dek defeats Tessa, Njohrr returns for a final duel with his surviving son. By this point, Dek has learned to hunt and survive the worst Genna has to offer, and honed his combat prowess against Weyland-Yutani. His father is much less of a challenge for him than Tessa, with their final duel lasting all of two minutes before Njohrr literally disarmed and relieved of his head.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Deconstructed. Njohrr is a veteran Yautja who holds to their standards of honor and might. Unfortunately, this has made him a vicious monster who brooks no weakness in their clan and slates his younger son for execution just for being perceived as weak with no chance to prove otherwise.
  • Strong and Skilled: Njohrr is mighty by Yautja standards and fights with a veteran's experience, easily overwhelming Kwei. However, he stands little chance against Dek after he returns from Genna, showing just how much of a potent teacher a Death World is.
  • Undignified Death: Njohrr is defeated by the son he derided and has his head bitten off by Bud almost as an afterthought as opposed to an honorable finish.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Implied. After Dek kills Njohrr, he notes the next threat is arriving in a ship: Dek's own mother, Njohrr's wife. Dek does not think she's going to view killing her husband very well.
  • Villains Want Mercy: Njohrr indirectly begs for his life, telling Dek to join him in the clan with the implicit offer that sparing him will see Dek elevated.
  • White Hair, Black Heart: Njohrr has white dreads and is easily one of the most sadistic and ruthless Yautja we've seen yet.

    Kwei 

Kwei

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kwei_yautja_predator_badlands_character_50.jpg

Played By: Michael Homik

Voiced By: Michael Homik

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

Dek's brother.


  • Big Brother Instinct: Kwei is friendly and kind towards his little brother, and ultimately fights and dies at his father's hands to protect him.
  • Curb-Stomp Cushion: He cannot defeat Njohrr and both know it. Kwei still gets in a few good hits and makes his father work for it.
  • Defiant to the End: Kwei dies simply shouting at Dek to prove himself, with no fear to his father.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Forsakes his opportunity to go on the hunt on Genna by freeing his brother and holding off his father long enough for Dek to make it offworld.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: He gets stabbed through the chest with his father's plasma-sword.
  • Impaled Palm: He gets stabbed through the hand by his father's wristblades while Njohrr’s is using his cloaking device.
  • Off with His Head!: How he's ultimately finished off by his father's plasma-sword in front of a devastated Dek who can only watch helplessly and scream with despair.

Genna

    Kalisk 

Kalisk

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kaliskisunkillable.jpg

Played By: N/A

Voiced By: N/A

Appearances: Predator: Badlands

An extremely dangerous and fearsome creature infamous amongst the Yautja for being "unkillable".


  • The Dreaded: The Kalisk is a terrifying beast and most are very wary about it.
  • Hero Killer: An odd case, but the Kalisk is legendary for killing everyone who comes after it and many Yautja do not return from the hunts. It turns out to be very reasonable to those its child bonds to and it ultimately becomes an ally.
  • Literally Shattered Lives: Dies to Tessa freezing it from the inside out before shattering its now frozen body.
  • Healing Factor: The Kalisk possesses the ability to heal from almost any damage near instantly - cutting off its head just results in it reattaching it in seconds.
  • Monster Is a Mommy: Is Bud's parent, which is why it spares Dek after smelling Bud's scent on him.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Ultimately, the Kalisk is just an animal doing its best to survive the Death World it calls home, as it stops attacking Dek and company after detecting Bud's scent on the Yautja warrior.

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