Warning: Full spoilers follow for Prey. Do you want to know if there’s an end credits scene? We’ll tell you right here. There sort of is. Read on for all those details.
If it bleeds, we can kill it. Hulu’s Prey takes The Predator way back in time, pitting one of the greatest hunters in the galaxy versus Comanche warriors in the 1700s. New time period, same deadly Predator stalking the most challenging hunt it can find. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Prey tells the story of the Predator species’ first hunt on Earth. And we’re here to break down the ending plus dive in on the Easter Eggs we spotted in this epic adventure!
Prey Movie Ending Explained
It’s the year 1719 in the Northern Great Plains, and a Predator is dropped off here on Earth to find and hunt the planet’s apex predator – you know, pretty standard Predator-style stuff.
And in fact, the basic story in Prey is also pretty standard Predator-style stuff, in a good way – a fierce human warrior uses their wits and their environment to hunt down and kill a deadly alien warrior whose sole purpose for being there is to hunt and kill. Like we mentioned in our full Prey review, the film takes Predator back to its roots. It’s all about the hunt.
Our main character is Naru (played by Amber Midthunder), a Comanche warrior and hunter whose family seems to think she should leave the hunting to the guys. As our hero, she’s the one who starts to figure out that there’s something out there in the forest that could very well be hunting her tribe. She’s also the one who eventually figures out how to beat the Predator, and it involves a breed of orange flower that when consumed can drop a person’s body temperature enough to avoid detection by the Predator’s heat vision.
The final fight starts as Naru and her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers) both engage the Predator. Taabe holds his own for a while but you know these Predator fights are all fun and games until somebody gets impaled. Which is exactly what happens.
After briefly escaping, Naru preps for the final confrontation, eating a bunch of the flowers while also using a trapper as bait to lure the Predator. This allows Naru to use a special pistol (more on this pistol below) to install a moon-roof in the back of the alien’s head. She then steals the Predator’s helm, which is different from the helmets we’ve seen Predators wear in the past but it does aid in aiming his ranged projectiles.
As the alien chases her down (the moon-roof wasn’t enough), Naru attacks from above, further wounding it. She eventually drives it into the swamp, which slows it down long enough for Naru to set up the killing blow, using the bone helm to redirect the alien’s targeted projectile bolts so they wind up inside his own forehead.
So just like in other installments of the Predator franchise, the victorious hunter has to figure out how the alien tech works and how to find ways to defeat it. That precedent was set way back in Predator 1, and Naru’s plan echoes what Dutch does in that movie, which is in this movie's future. Got it?
It’s all about those orange flowers though. So obviously, they allowed Naru to do the same thing that Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Dutch does in Predator 1 when he covers himself in mud to bring down his body temperature and evade that Predator’s scanners and sight.
Finally, after defeating the Predator, Naru cuts its head off and carries it back to her village. She is celebrated as a warrior and she warns her people of the dangers brought by both the alien and the trapper she has encountered.
Prey End Credits Scene
During the first batch of end credits, an animated rehash of the movie's events unfolds. It's really cool, but the last thing we see is a shot of the Predator ships emerging from a group of clouds… right above the Comanche tribe's camp. Does this mean Naru and her people are doomed after all? Or maybe just that a sequel could be in the works featuring these characters? Time will tell!
Prey Easter Eggs
There were two big references to prior Predator movies that we picked out in Prey.
The first is a reference to one of Arnold Schwarzenegger famous lines from the first movie, when the same line is said by Taabe: “If it bleeds, we can kill it.”
And of course the other big one is a reference to Predator 2. It’s this pistol that Naru tosses to the elders… after also tossing the Predator’s head. It’s the same pistol with the same inscription that Danny Glover gets as his prize for killing his own Predator 300 years later. Now, this means that at some point Predators must’ve come back to Earth to retrieve that gun so… Fun Easter egg? You bet. Bad news for Naru and her tribe? Big time.
What did you think of Prey? What other time periods do you want to see the Predator franchise visit next? Let’s discuss in the comments!
Source: IGN.com Prey Ending Explained and Post-Credits Scene Check-In: How the New Predator Movie Connects to the Franchise