As fans are impatiently waiting for the Netflix hit show to return, moviegoers might have noticed something familiar about the computer voice on Dek’s ship in Predator: Badlands. That’s because Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer both lent their voices to the Yautja ship in Dan Trachtenberg’s latest addition to the sci-fi franchise.
Following the film’s premiere last week, Trachtenberg revealed how this unlikely cameo came to be, telling Variety that he initially got the idea to feature the TV moguls in his film after they found themselves working on their respective projects together. “We were mixing Badlands on the very same stages where they were mixing Stranger Things at the same time,” Tratchenberg recalled, noting that “some of the same sound mixers” offered their services to both projects. “We needed to do the Yautja ship voice, and I was like, “What if I asked the Duffers to do it? How crazy would that be?”
Though the Duffers were down to create the “perfect” digital voice, one Tratchenberg said was synthesized through “smearing their voices together” and “doing other stuff in the computer,” the recording session required a bit more work than simply reading lines off of a script. The Duffers, per the filmmaker, had to get acquainted with Predator’s famously-complex Yautja language before collaborating on the sci-fi role.
“They had no idea that I was gonna hand him a piece of paper with, like, ‘N, G, I, L, A’ is a word. Good luck!” Tratchenberg said of creating the “heavily treated” voice. “They had to very quickly learn Yautja.”
Tratchenberg and The Duffers Had Previously Planned Another Sci-Fi Crossover
Dek prepares for a fight in Predator: BadlandsImage via 20th Century Studios/Everett Collection
This isn’t the first time the Predator alum planned on collaborating with the Duffer Brothers. Tratchenberg, who honed his sci-fi chops on films including 10 Cloverfield Lane and Prey, was originally tapped to direct an installment of Stranger Things’ upcoming final season, though he was unable to follow through due to strike-related scheduling conflicts. While it’s unclear what episode of the Netflix series Tratchenberg would have worked on, whatever it was had a “huge” scope, per the star.
“It’s awesome!” Tratchenberg told Collider shortly after his involvement in the series was announced in 2023. “I’m doing it because I love that show so much. I think every season has gotten better and better and better.”
After taking care to compliment the Duffers as “good, really good dudes,” Tratchenberg, who previously directed episodes of The Boys and Black Mirror, teased not only the massive scale of his installment, but that of the show’s ultimate season. “This episode, that’s just ‘an episode’ of Season 5, has several awesome set pieces in it,” he continued. “It’s gonna be huge, man. It’s a big season, and, so far, so cool.”
Predator: Badlands is currently in theaters. Volume 1 of Stranger Things Season 5 is slated to hit Netflix on Nov. 26.
- Release Date
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November 5, 2025
- Runtime
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107 minutes
- Director
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Dan Trachtenberg
- Writers
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Dan Trachtenberg, Patrick Aison, John Thomas, Jim Thomas
- Producers
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Brent O’Connor, John Davis, Marc Toberoff, Dan Trachtenberg, Ben Rosenblatt
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Elle Fanning
Thia / Tessa
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Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi
Dek / Father