Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi plays not only Dek, the main protagonist of the film, but also is confirmed to body double as his character's father Njohrr who serves as one of the two major antagonists of the film.
A Harvester skull from Independence Day (1996) is seen on the Predator's trophy wall in the teaser.
The music in the trailer is performed by Mongolian folk metal band The Hu.
Elle Fanning says she lived mostly as Thia on set, with the occasional Tessa day sprinkled in - which she admits made her a little nervous. Thia made sense to her. Tessa took more work. Thia is open. Tessa is guarded, methodical, and, given her history, more traditionally robotic. The production calls them sisters, but Fanning is clear: different paths made them who they are, and that is the point. 'I had a soft spot for Tessa. I don't think she's just a straight villain. She's working for the company and in her mind, she's just trying to get the task done.'
In an interview with IGN, Dan Trachtenberg said he would love to see an Uncharted or Assassin's Creed-style Predator video game set in an open world, and expressed his hope it might one day happen. "I am desperate for there to be a third-person action adventure, Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, that kind of open world thing," he said. "Concrete Jungle was something that I missed unfortunately. And that was a long time ago. And there's just so much fun to be had game wise, I think, with Predator. I hope it could happen."
Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer: Director Dan Trachtenberg asked the twin brother writing-directing duo to make an unexpected audio appearance in the film, as the voice of the Yautja-engineered software that powers the ship the central character, Dek, is flying aboard. The Duffer Brothers' voices are heavily distorted to more properly match the condition of the ship itself, but they are also speaking the Yautja language. According to Trachtenberg himself, prior to both of those Predator projects getting greenlit, he was dubious about whether or not they would both get made, and actually signed on to direct an episode of Stranger Things' final season. However, when both Predator projects were thrust into production for release this year, he ultimately had to renege on his Stranger Things commitment. "The truth of the matter was that I didn't know that Killer of Killers and Badlands were going to get greenlit at the same time," Trachtenberg recalled. "So I thought I could still squeeze in a Stranger Things episode, but then they both happened at the same time, and I just could not do three things at once. The Duffer Brothers were mixing an episode of Stranger Things at the same time we were mixing Badlands. We didn't have a voice yet for Kwei's ship's computer." And thus, the Duffer Brothers got the gig, as an apology and a surprise of sorts. "We had a really fun time in the booth together, and it was pretty cool," Trachtenberg concludes.