Disney Launches ‘Star Wars’ Replacement After Years of Disappointing Content
It’s been 13 years since Disney acquired Lucasfilm and took control of Star Wars, and the franchise hasn’t quite regained its footing since. While Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens reignited interest in 2015, the years since have been marked by fatigue, uneven sequels, and a conveyor belt of Disney+ content that’s divided even the most loyal fans.
From The Book of Boba Fett (2021) to The Acolyte (2024), Disney’s grip on the faraway galaxy has left audiences wondering whether the magic is well and truly gone. But now, the company may have found a new sci-fi playground with the latest Predator movie.
Predator: Badlands feels suspiciously like a Star Wars stand-in. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the latest film in the series reimagines the brutal Predator universe as something far more family-friendly. Gone is the franchise’s signature violence; in its place is a PG-13 rating, sweeping desert landscapes, and a story about legacy, destiny, and redemption. The film even opens with a glowing-blade duel between the young Predator outcast Dek and his brother — a moment that could easily pass for a lightsaber battle.
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Dek, who’s portrayed by Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, is the first Predator (known more specifically as a Yautja) protagonist in the series. Along his journey across a dangerous alien world, he teams up with Thia (Elle Fanning), a damaged android from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation of the Alien franchise, and adopts a small, wide-eyed alien companion that wouldn’t look out of place in a Disney store.
The tone is closer to The Mandalorian than the 1987 original starring Arnold Schwarzenegger — part space fantasy, part buddy adventure, and very family-safe.
This isn’t Disney’s first attempt to soften the edges of the Yautja. Prey became a streaming hit on Hulu and Disney+ in 2022, while Predator: Killer of Killers, this year’s anime anthology film (both films were also directed by Trachtenberg), pushed the Predator franchise into stylized territory. Badlands continues that evolution for the franchise — or depending on your point of view, sanitization.
Either way, it all feels pretty intentional. With Star Wars struggling to produce another cultural phenomenon, Disney may be quietly turning its attention to another faraway galaxy under its ownership. Predator: Badlands may not be the film fans were waiting for, but for Disney, it could mark the birth of a new, safer sci-fi franchise.
Meanwhile, Star Wars continues to tick along with new content — Star Wars Visions: Volume 3 recently premiered on Disney+, while The Mandalorian & Grogu, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Pedro Pascal prepares to land in theaters in May, 2026, followed the year after by Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling.
But are audiences willing to trade lightsaber duels for those three iconic red laser dots?
Predator: Badlands is in theaters now. Watch the trailer below:
Disney’s official synopsis reads: “Predator: Badlands, which stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi, is set in the future on a remote planet, where a young Predator (Schuster-Koloamatangi), outcast from his clan, finds an unlikely ally in Thia (Fanning) and embarks on a treacherous journey in search of the ultimate adversary.”
Have you seen Predator: Badlands? Do you think Disney is trying its luck in another faraway galaxy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!
