Alec Gillis: The Design Evolution of the Yautja in the Predator Franchise

In 1987, the silver screen introduced the world to the Yautja, one of the most iconic creatures in pop culture. Although Predator starred action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger, it was the alien warrior that stole the scene–projecting the standalone film into a successful franchise. There have been many iterations, all with the same predator/prey formula and a few crossovers with the Alien franchise–but nothing compares to Dan Trachtenberg’s expansion and redefinition of the universe. Legendary creature designer Alec Gillis’ career journey has been hand in hand with Predator, his contribution beginning with the original film working with the late great Stan Winston then decades later at the creative helm evolving the Yautja in Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, The Predator, and finally joining Trachtenberg on his Predator renaissance in Prey, Killer of Killers, and now Badlands.

The original design for the Yautja almost ended production for Predator. Schwarzenegger himself reached out to Stan Winston, and after agreeing to an impossible eight-week delivery the team pulled off a miracle–implementing a new solution that allowed suit performer Kevin Peter Hall to fully express the character’s physicality while also creating an iconic and unforgettable design. “There was some previously existing design work that other artists had done. One drawing in particular [depicted] a loincloth, very lean warrior with a metal mask and long hair standing on a rock pinnacle holding a spear. But there wasn’t much there,” Gillis recalled. Winston’s idea was of an alien with a scaly lion face, but the design turning point came from James Cameron’s suggestion to give the creature mandibles.

When it came time to sculpt, Alec Gillis was in charge of hiring new young talent: Matt Rose and Steve Wang, whose work on Invaders from Mars was the right match for Predator. “Matt Rose sculpted the head based on Stan’s design, and Steve Wang started sketching armor with Asian influences … It was sort of a collection of different looks that implied a culture, which went back to that first drawing of a tribal alien warrior. Those were all fresh ideas.” Gillis added, “Ultimately it all came together in a pretty spectacular way. In retrospect, this is why they came to Stan Winston, because someone with less experience or not quite as light on their feet and imaginative might drop the ball and do something again that was not very good, and we wouldn’t be here decades later.”

Each iteration of Predator had been an ad-hoc gathering of ideas without a canonized and codified lore for the franchise–until Dan Trachtenberg’s grand vision. “Prey was our opportunity to bring something fresh to the franchise, but still within the parameters of the traditional Predator movie,” Gillis said. It’s almost a retelling of the original story, but this time the protagonist is Naru, an underdog who while trained as a healer has aspirations of being a hunter. Set in the Comanche Nation 300 years ago, the Yautja design is reimagined by Studio ADI, creating new anatomy for the Predator with new weapons and armor to reflect the time period. “One of the interesting things that we learned was that Dan had concerns that Tom Woodruff [Jr.] and I would be too stuck in our ways having worked on other Predator movies–that we wouldn’t be willing to take the Predator in a bold new design path. Thankfully, somebody had given us that insider scoop, so we did a presentation where I showed him on Zoom a bunch of the different iterations that had been rejected by the studio … you kind of have to go too far to know where the line is. That cinched the deal for us,” he revealed.

The real Predator revolution came with Killer of Killers, the first animated film featuring four different time periods where the Yautja culture is finally showcased in the final act. This felt like a teaser for what’s to come in Badlands and the future of the franchise–what the true potential of Predator storytelling looks like. Alec Gillis shared a crucial design decision that was discussed early in development: “In the arena, at one point you’re going to see masses of spectators … Are there different classes? Is this Rome? Who’s the warrior, and is there a scientific class? Is there a cultural elite? What about female Predators? I think that wisely what Dan decided to do is to put them into shadowy recesses, so that we’re not making that statement yet. I think he wasn’t really ready to commit to the world at large, because once you start shining a light on any culture, you sort of demystify it, and if you’re going to demystify it, you have to replace it with something really great.”

Then Badlands was released, and the Predator lore, as we know it, forever changed. For the first time on screen, audiences are introduced to the first Yautja family unit, a fully developed language, and a young Predator who (just like Naru) is an underdog eager to prove his worthiness to his family. Trachtenberg redefined the genre–blending horror with action, much like James Cameron did with Aliens. The filmmaker added so many emotional layers to the protagonist, Dek, who by the end of his treacherous journey not only finds a new family, but also his identity.

The process for designing Dek was an incredible hybrid approach of both practical and digital. Studio Gillis, Wētā Workshop and ultimately Wētā Digital worked together to bring the compelling protagonist to life through the outstanding performance of Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi. During the foundational design phase, Alec Gillis and team conceptualized the young Predator and some of the creature characters, including Bud and Squirt. Even before there was a script, Dek was described as a disadvantaged Predator on a planet that wants to kill you: “Dek was going to be small and frail. He was a runt, so everything that we designed had him being a very thin, pre-adult character–a fourteen-year-old boy. Dan at one point had a very bold idea that he was totally blind and had a visor that would allow him to see through sonar through his own clicking noises. That was kind of a big deal–it was affecting a lot of action in the movie. He said, ‘Well, maybe he’s blind in one eye’, so we played around with that. Maybe he’s got a deformed mandible. We have to give him some reason why father thinks he’s not worthy to even live, right? And that he was a little bit delusional himself about what his potential was. But, as always with Dan, it’s about the characters’ belief in their own potential in spite of the world around them. Those were sort of the character things that we played with, knowing that he would evolve into an unlikely success story.”

When Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi was cast, the design of Dek was reshaped to fit the actor’s strong physicality and full range of emotions. Besides a shorter average height for a Yautja and perhaps the broken fang, Dek didn’t show any particular physical disadvantage. What made him sort of an outcast came from his abusive father and the endless competition with his brother Kwei–both shaping his thirst for challenge and proof of worthiness. At this stage, Gillis handed the baton to Wētā Workshop who focused on the manufacturing aspect of the film, including the Yautja suits and weaponry. For Dek’s face the filmmakers chose a hybrid approach of practical and digital effects to allow Schuster-Koloamatangi’s performance to truly shine. Alec Gillis confessed, “I’ve been in the effects business for 46 years now, and it’s just so remarkable how every job brings a new challenge. I pride myself on being a standard bearer for practical effects … There’s nobody more committed to it than I am. That said, when the script started coming in and we started having conversations more about technique and technology, Dan said, ‘Can this animatronic head give me the moment at the beginning of the film where Dek goes from pride and excitement when he sees his father to confusion, to betrayal, to anguish–blending all those moments?’ I had to say, ‘That is a really difficult thing to achieve animatronically.’ And the other thing was that 20th [Century Studios] was releasing the latest Planet of the Apes film right around the same time, and that’s Wētā Digital’s work of those exquisitely performing faces–in particular the orangutan that had so much soul and can sit around a campfire and tell a heartbreaking story. I had to say, ‘I think given the production requirements, we’re out in the wilds of New Zealand, driven by a single actor’s performance, I think you’re better off going with digital faces.’ There’s nobody doing it better [than Wētā Digital]. This story needs the hybrid approach of digital and practical.” The result is impressive, with 80% practicality and 20% digital elevating the actor’s emotions–a momentous achievement in film. “I had to be more of a filmmaker and less of a carrying the torch of practical effects … I had to support the director and his vision.”

As Dek slowly stops fighting and starts embracing the death planet, he builds new organic armor and weapons to survive. Studio Gillis was also responsible for designing the Yautja’s makeshift gear from the planet’s resources, including the most entertaining one that production affectionately called Squirt–the snake-like creature that replaced the classic shoulder cannon in the third act of the film. “This was a rare opportunity for a designer such as myself to jump in at the conceptual level and assist to tell the story,” Gillis shared. “I just love how biology is weaponized–how Dek harnesses it on Genna and makes it his own. He learns that the Squirts are trainable by food, so that’s a logical way to get one of these horrible creatures to sit on your shoulder. They’re aware and can shoot at whatever you’re aiming them at. Design wise, I started off with practical concerns like, ‘How big in proportion should it be?’ We want it to sort of be roughly the size of a shoulder cannon, so we don’t want a big body. It became like an eel or a snake that can wrap around his arm and cling to him. Then it has two chambers where it squirts chemicals that join [and create a corrosive reaction]. It’s a very plausible, but also fun, unlikely animal friendship!”

In the end, Gillis said that Predator: Badlands was a big undertaking, “a really fun collaboration where for the first time the weight was not all on my shoulders. It gave me freedom to play around a little bit with things. This was my opportunity to finally work with Wētā Workshop. I’ve known Richard Taylor for a few decades, but only superficially when he would come to LA. This was my first time going there and seeing the workshop–the vast scale of it and the amazing talent and the kind of expertise that they’ve developed over the years. Shoutout to: Vaughan Flanagan who was the supervising art director and concept design; Jake Evill, the art director and partly in charge of the manufacturing of the creatures, and Ben Fairless, art director for costumes and weapons also involved in the manufacturing. [Wētā Workshop] gets viewed as a single entity, but there are individuals who deserve credit.”

With the Predator franchise expanding its lore, Alec Gillis is excited to see what creative opportunities future installments will bring: “I think what’s so exciting, not just for me but for fans as well, is that [Badlands] has kicked open the door for us to finally explore the Predator world. I hope that Dan Trachtenberg stays at the helm of this for some decades as a guiding hand, because this franchise has been in need of that kind of a filmmaker. I believe that the blend of practical and digital is really the best way to tell a story, and that’s what I aim to do. Hopefully I’ll be back on future installments.”

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