From Prey to Predator: Killer of Killers Threads Predator’s Past Into a Savage New Future

The Predator franchise has always been about survival, gritty, bloody, and earned. But in Predator: Killer of Killers, the 2025 adult animated anthology from Prey director Dan Trachtenberg and co-director Joshua Wassung, survival isn’t the finish line. It’s just the invitation to a much larger game. Released June 6 on Hulu (U.S.) and Disney+ (international), this eighth installment and sixth feature film in the Predator universe is more than a brutal thrill ride. It’s a strategic evolution, one that deepens the mythology and expands directly on the legacy of 2022’s Prey.

Where Prey reenergized the franchise with a sharp focus on character, culture, and stripped-down storytelling, Killer of Killers builds upon that emotional resonance as its foundation, connecting the past to the future not just in tone and style but also in continuity and one unforgettable cameo.

Spanning centuries and cultures, Predator: Killer of Killers follows the brutal encounters of three warriors who each survive the hunt of a Predator in their own era.

In 9th-century Scandinavia, Viking warrior Ursa seeks vengeance for her father’s death but is forced to fight a Predator that leaves her son dead. In 1609 Japan, exiled shinobi Kenji returns to confront his brother in a blood feud, only to find that the two must unite against a deadly alien foe. And in 1942, Navy pilot Torres uncovers a Predator starship during WWII and narrowly survives the ensuing devastation.

All three are abducted and placed in cryosleep by the Yautja, awakening centuries later in a savage alien arena where they must battle for survival once more. Though mistrust threatens to tear them apart, they join forces in a desperate bid for freedom, facing down monstrous creatures and a warlord Predator in a final act of defiance.

The most chilling reveal in Killer of Killers is its post-credits scene: Naru, the fierce Comanche warrior introduced in Prey, is shown frozen in cryosleep aboard a Yautja ship, preserved alongside other human warriors. Her abduction confirms that her battle wasn’t the end of her story but the beginning of something far bigger. She, like Viking matriarch Ursa, shinobi exile Kenji, and WWII pilot John Torres, was deemed worthy of the Predators’ intergalactic bloodsport.

This reveal turns Prey’s bittersweet ending into a haunting prelude, cementing Naru’s legacy on the broader mythos while setting her up for a possible return in future installments. In doing so, Killer of Killers transforms Prey from a prequel into a cornerstone of the series.

The film also gives new weight to one of the franchise’s most enduring relics, the Raphael Adolini 1715 flintlock pistol. First seen in Predator 2, Prey revealed that the gun was gifted to Naru by a dying French fur trapper. Killer of Killers picks up the thread, placing the pistol in Torres’ hands during the World War II segment. After using it in battle, the gun is lost and reclaimed by the Predators, explaining exactly how it ended up back in their possession before being handed to Detective Harrigan in Predator 2.

The presence of the Raphael Adoloni 1715 pistol isn’t just clever fan service. It’s mythmaking, and the gun becomes a throughline connecting Prey, Killer of Killers, and Predator 2, grounding each story in a shared universe that respects its past while forging new paths.

Like Prey, which grounded the alien threat in a deeply human story about community, survival, and strength, Killer of Killers centers its anthology on characters who are already survivors prior to their encounters with the Yautja. Whether it’s Ursa seeking revenge and losing her son, Kenji reckoning with his brother’s betrayal, or Torres carrying the weight of war, each segment anchors the characters in grief, redemption, and ingenuity.

Instead of letting victory and survival be their reward or the end, Killer of Killers reframes it as a qualification. In the Yautja’s eyes, killing a Predator doesn’t earn you freedom. It earns you another hunt.

By introducing the concept of cryogenic preservation for worthy opponents, Killer of Killers opens up narrative doors that make it possible to bring back characters from any point in Predator history. Naru’s presence confirms this, but the implications stretch further: Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Mike Harrigan (Danny Glover) could feasibly return, preserved in stasis for future battles. The cryogenic preservation also eliminates the need for awkward time travel logic or age explanations, as the collection of warriors becomes a chilling expansion of the Predator code as they are collected in their own time and reanimated at will for sport.

This subtle yet seismic shift mirrors Prey’s approach, taking something familiar and stripping it to its primal core, then rebuilding it into something more terrifying.

Predator: Killer of Killers is a savage, stunning evolution of the franchise. It honors Prey not just through references but by treating its legacy with reverence and imagination. From Naru’s silent cameo to the flintlock pistol’s full-circle return, it proves that Prey wasn’t just a standout entry. It was the turning point in revitalizing a stagnant franchise.

Killer of Killers raises the stakes and serves as a great precursor to Predator: Badlands, as it changes the game and sets the tone for further expansion of the Predator franchise. It’s no longer just about survival but questioning what survival means when the hunt never ends.