Journey Through Sci-Fi: A Science Fiction Film Podcast · James Payne

Prey (2022): How It Re-Energised the Predator Franchise

November 3, 2025·1 hr 3 min·4 clips

Every scene in Prey either sets up a payoff or improves Naru as a hunter.

1. Journey Through Sci-Fi returns to Prey (2022), tying Dan Trachtenberg's film to Predator Badlands and a big-screen re-release. 2. The hosts, whose names are not given in the transcript, frame the episode around Trachtenberg's role as director and the film's place in the Predator franchise. 3. The episode asks what Prey is doing for the Predator series: whether it re-energises the franchise by returning it to its roots. 4. Dan Trachtenberg is compared with 10 Cloverfield Lane because both films combine a strong core story with franchise IP. 5. The hosts say Prey could work as a film about a young Comanche warrior hunting an alien or a supernatural monster, even without Predator. 6. They argue that Prey is built around the Predator from the beginning, unlike 10 Cloverfield Lane, which was not a Cloverfield film from the ground up. 7. The discussion describes Prey as a small, tight thriller with a small cast and “no dead weight at all.” 8. The hosts say the 1719 setting and the Comanche warrior premise made the film easy to map out before watching. 9. They mention that friend of the show Mike Munster from Evolution of Horror recommended the film and that one host had only the title before reading Wikipedia. 10. The episode notes that Trachtenberg and the team did research into 1700s Comanche life, including input from people connected to various tribes. 11. One example is the warning that whistling at night is an “absolute no-go” in a Comanche tribe, which changes the meaning of a whistling moment in the film. 12. The hosts discuss the alternate all-Comanche cut and say they would prefer to watch a version with English subtitles. 13. They also say they might watch the movie without subtitles at all, comparing that experience to watching French characters they could not understand. 14. Prey is presented as a selective remake of the 1987 Predator, taking the best parts and reinterpreting them into a new plot. 15. One host says Prey is “an effort to re-simplify the predator vibe” after later sequels made the franchise more complicated. 16. The Predator franchise is compared across Predator 2, Predators, and The Predator, with the last one described as overcomplicated and not worth revisiting. 17. Amber Midthunder's Naru is praised as a stronger and more interesting protagonist than Dutch because she has to learn, develop, and improve. 18. The hosts describe her retractable axe, her underestimation by other characters, and her progression as a hunter as a video-game-like leveling system. 19. The episode stays conversational and analytical, with two hosts trading opinions, film references, and production details about Trachtenberg's choices. 20. Best for listeners who like franchise analysis, Predator lore, and craft-focused sci-fi discussion; skip if you want spoiler-free summaries only.

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