Predator: Badlands Director Dan Trachtenberg Explains Why He Held His Ground on Sidekick Character Bud Despite His Editor Telling Him He Sounded Like Jar Jar Binks

Predator: Badlands, as anyone who’s seen the film will know, is not your typical Predator movie. This is something widely discussed and debated, but one thing you’d never get in the prior Predator movies is a character like Bud.

Warning! Predator: Badlands spoilers follow:

Badlands, which some compared to a Star Wars movie upon its release, has jokes (the Predator makes one — deliberately — himself), there are moments of slapstick comedy, and there is a cute alien sidekick called Bud, who some compared to Baby Yoda.

It turns out, director Dan Trachtenberg’s editor told him that he sounded like Jar Jar Binks of Star Wars fame. Jar Jar is of course a character introduced in the Prequel Trilogy who many fans of the franchise hated, so you’d think this was a warning from the editor.

Trachtenberg, however, held his ground, telling Empire magazine why he wanted to keep Bud in the movie. “I thought it was so cool,” he said of Bud. “One day, my editor came in and was like, ‘He kind of sounds like Jar Jar,’ which is a pretty divisive character.

“We just loved the concoction. It was like, ‘How cool is it that you have something that you would only see in a Disney movie, in something like this, that brings this whole other side out of it, but also is super-badass and funny and charming and heartfelt, but still with an edge?’”

Those comments echo those he made in an interview I did with Trachtenberg ahead of Predator: Badlands’ release. At the time, Trachtenberg said he was influenced by Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy, and the idea that there was more to all the main characters, including Bud, than the audience thinks.

“I think I just loved the idea of the Predator meeting up with not just one, but a band of other outcasts,” Trachtenberg said back in November. “I maybe had Guardians of the Galaxy on the brain and Rocket Raccoon, seeing something that appeared to be one way. Because certainly Dek appears to be one way and then actually is something different, and Thia appears like something and then you discover there’s something else behind her and there’s more to the story there. And Bud as well, to seem at first cutesy as you’re putting it, but actually turns out to be incredibly ferocious and capable, and there being more narrative story there.

“I loved the silhouette. I came up with Prey in pairing Amber [Midthunder] with a dog based on the silhouette of Mad Max and his pup. The strong badass with something beside it is just a really cool silhouette, and I loved the idea of Dek with the half a robot strapped to his back and this other thing beside him that was small. That’s all I had, there was something small beside him that was a part of the adventure. It just felt like something that would be exciting.”

IGN’s Predator: Badlands review returned an 8/10. We said: “Predator: Badlands finally lets you see the world through the Yautja’s heat-sensitive eyes.” It made $184.5 million at the global box office, which appears to have been enough to convince the powers that be to follow it up with a new movie. According to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who starred in the first two Predator movies, 20th Century Studios is currently developing Conan 3, Commando 2, and a new Predator movie, with an eye for the 80-year-old actor to star in all three.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.