Prey 2 – will it happen? Future spin-off rumours and more

Since its release on 5th August 2022, Prey has quickly become a massive hit for 20th Century Studios and Disney. It regularly appeared in the top 10 list of streaming Movies and TV shows across all platforms since its release.

In addition, the movie has been a hit with both movie critics and general audiences, with many hailing it as the best movie in the franchise since the movie that started it all, 1987’s Predator.

There have been no official announcements yet confirming that a sequel has been greenlit. However,it feels very safe to assume, given the critical and commercial success of Prey, and the fact that the movie teases a sequel in its credits (more on that in a minute), that a sequel will be announced soon.

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With that in mind, let’s take a look at what we do know, in addition to what the story of this new instalment in the Predator franchise could be. As well as possibilities for some other stories that the franchise could branch off into.

Before you read further, please be aware that I will be discussing plot spoilers for Prey from this point on, so, if you haven’t seen the movie but are okay with having it spoiled, please read on.

Prey – What Happened

Prey is set in 1719 almost 300 years before the events of Predator, and follows Comanche warrior, Naru played by (Amber Midthunder).

When we first meet Naru she is living in The Great Northern Plans with her family and tribe but she is frustrated by the life expected of her.

As the movie shows that within the tribe, it is often the tribe’s men who hunt, while the tribe’s women are often responsible for gathering supplies, tending to the home, and for some women like Naru and her mother, acting as the tribe’s healers using techniques passed from mother to daughter.

Naru however longs to prove herself by undertaking her own “Kühtaamia”.

The “Kühtaamia” as explained by Naru’s brother, Taabe (played by Dakota Beavers), is a traditional Comanche trial in which a hunter must go alone into the woods and successfully hunt and kill a predator that is hunting them.

Succeeding in the trial proves worthiness as a hunter, which is why it is so important for Naru at the movie’s beginning to undergo the trial.

As she already knows that she is a skilled hunter, but in order to be taken seriously as a hunter by her tribe, she must first prove herself.

We follow Naru as we also follow a new member of the Predator species, the “Feral Predator” (played by Dane DiLiegro).

This Predator is both similar and different to those we have seen before as instead of braided dreadlocks. It has long slick strands of hair that are as black as oil.

It also wears a new type of mask, bone like in nature, another departure from the Predators we’ve seen before, who have all used metal masks.

As the movie progresses we see Naru’s first attempt at undergoing her own “Kühtaamia” fail, in part due to the actions of the Feral Predator.

Causing Naru, once healed, to begin investigating the Feral Predator as she begins her hunt of it, leading to several confrontations between Naru and the Feral Predator, with Naru learning a little more each time.

During the films climactic battle we see Naru using her knowledge of medicines along with her hunting skills and the Feral Predator’s underestimation of her, just as others have done throughout the movie, to lure the Feral Predator into a trap, allowing her to kill it once and for all.

The movie then ends with Naru returning to her village with the Feral Predator’s head as her trophy and proof that not only is the threat dealt with but as confirmation that she has successfully completed her “Kühtaamia”.

As a result of this, Naru is made War Chief of her tribe in place of her brother, who sacrificed himself against the Feral Predator earlier in the movie so that Naru could escape it.

The movies credits then begin, showing the events of the movie in the form of traditional paintings on animal hides, before the final painting reveals more Predator ships descending from the sky towards Naru and her tribe below.

Prey 2 – Possible Story

While much ado has been made online about setting the Prey sequel in Japan during the time of the Shogunate (more on that in the next part of this article).

I personally see that as more of an offshoot, turning Prey into it’s own sub franchise within the main Predator franchise.

As, in this interview with The Hollywood Reporter with the movie’s Director, Dan Trachtenberg, and Producer, Jhane Myers.

Trachtenberg specifically says that the inspiration for Prey was that audiences never got to see the confrontation between the Predator and Sonny Landham’s Native American mercenary, Billy Sole.

Instead, we only see Billy, shirtless, standing on a large log, cutting a wound into his chest with his knife in order to draw the Predator to him as he buys time for his comrades to escape, before the film cuts away and all we hear is Billy’s scream as he’s killed.

So, with this in mind, I would be very, very, surprised, especially given the mid credits teaser for Prey and the praise for Amber Midthunder’s performance as Naru, if we don’t see a continuation of Naru’s story in the sequel.

Specifically how Naru and her tribe contend with the arrival of further Predators to her home, and whether or not their arrival is coincidence, or, as is most likely, they’re following up on the Feral Predator sending it’s ship away early in the movie.

Regardless of their motives though, seeing how Naru contends with several Predators instead of just one is an enticing prospect indeed, given everything that she went through with the Feral Predator.

Release Date?

As a Prey sequel hasn’t been officially announced yet. There is no known release date, or release date plan.

So, I can only speculate that if a sequel is greenlit, it will arrive some time in 2024.

Prey Spinoffs?

So, as I mentioned before, there has been a picture of renowned Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai, The Wolverine, Westworld) in period costume (I believe from his role in Mortal Kombat) alongside a photo of the original Predator.

The caption for the photo then suggests a Prey sequel be set in the Shogunate era of Japan focusing on a Samurai who becomes a Ronin (a masterless or exiled Samurai) due to their Lord being murdered by a Predator.

The Ronin then vows to hunt and kill the Predator in retribution for their master’s death.

Now, by all means, this is an incredible story for a Predator movie as it’s plot is very in keeping with the plots of both Predator, and Prey. Which, I personally feel is the only way to successfully tell a satisfying Predator story.

Also, this particular period setting allows for a number of exciting possibilities that, like Prey, would allow filmmakers to combine several classic genres of cinema in telling this story.

But, as I’ve said already, it should not, in my opinion, be a direct sequel to Prey, but rather, should be an offshoot with it’s own subtitle, for example, Prey: Ronin.

This then allows two important things:

1. The movie has it’s own identity within the greater Predator franchise.

2. It establishes, if successful, that stand alone movies can then be made using the Prey name to tell stories in other time periods throughout Earth’s history.

Hypothetical examples could be, Prey: Crusades, showing a Predator during the time of The Holy Crusades hunting a group of Knights Templar.

Or, how about, Prey: Revolution, set during the Napoleonic Wars.

As this branching into stand alone movies set in different time periods allows new stories to be told that feature different time periods and different casts, that like Prey, can be made up entirely of actors who are race or culturally appropriate for the roles of that time period and story.

The only things then that would limit the potential of these types of stories are the studio’s willingness to support and finance them, and the imaginations of the filmmakers attached to them.