The hunt returned to Hall H, but this time, it’s not the humans doing the surviving. Director Dan Trachtenberg, VFX maestro Alec Gillis, and stars Elle Fanning and Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi took the stage at San Diego Comic-Con to unveil Predator: Badlands, a bold new installment in the iconic sci-fi franchise—and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen before.

For starters, Badlands is the first Predator movie where there are no humans. Not a single one. But don’t mistake that for a lack of heart. “It has so much heart and emotion,” said Elle Fanning. “Prey definitely had that, but what made [Badlands] unique is there are no humans in this film. I play a synthetic android. Dimitrius is a Predator. There’s an unlikely friendship among these two characters. I will say, I do play two parts in the film. There are two characters that I play.”

In addition, Trachtenberg explained that the core idea came from wanting to flip the usual Predator formula. “Predators are the greatest killers in the galaxy, and yet they have always lost to humans,” he said. “I wanted to create a movie where the Predator wins.” That mindset led him to remove the typical human protagonist altogether. “I worried that audiences would start to get tempted by that human and their story,” he said. “Eventually, I decided to make the character a robot instead. The next thought was, wait a minute, I know a company that makes robots. And that led to the Weyland-Yutani synth of it all.”

Schuster-Koloamatangi plays Dek, a young Predator who wants to prove himself by navigating a brutal alien wilderness. He underwent intense physical training to wear the Predator suit. He even learned the Yautja language, which was created specifically for the film. “It’s a full language,” he said. “Not just growls and clicks. There’s a structure to it.”

Also, joining them on stage was FX legend Alec Gillis, who has worked with Trachtenberg on all his Predator projects and was a mentee of the late Stan Winston. Gillis and Trachtenberg revealed that they made a bold first for the franchise: rendering the Predator’s face digitally—a choice they didn’t take lightly. “This time we wanted to make sure we could go to emotional places,” said Trachtenberg. “So we developed a unique system.” The solution: a hybrid of practical suits and facial work by Wētā Workshop, allowing the Predator to carry the emotional weight of the story.

The filmmakers shot the movie in New Zealand, but they designed the planet Kalisk to feel more like Australia cranked up to 11. “The grass, the trees, the creatures—everything is trying to kill him,” said Trachtenberg. “He’s essentially being hunted; he’s like Dutch in the original movie.”

Predator: Badlands hits theaters on November 7th.