Hulu 'Prey' Ending Explained: The Predator gets an origin story with only a flickering connect to '87 flick
Hulu's 'Prey' is a stark contrast to the long list of 'Predator' movies that followed suit after Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1987 blockbuster. While the film itself has a rather period setting with the 1700s as the timeline, the alien that arrives on earth has eerie similarities to the one in 'Predator'. The prequel is part-futuristic by nature and the focus falls on a young Naru (Amber Midthunder), a Comanche woman.
The 90-minute film quickly sets the tone and context by introducing her as a skilled hunter. While her family and tribe look down on her and are dismissive of her skills, she becomes a pivotal part of the movie. The Predator vs Naru forms the entire third act of the film. The dialogue is drastically reduced to cries of pain and rage as a deadly human vs alien skirmish ensues. The final fight and the ending are definitely not as commercial as Schwarzenegger's hunter becomes the hunted plotline. Instead, it's slick, gory, and definitive.
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'Prey' sees the predator hack its targets one by one. The Comanche hunters are first up, followed by the French traders who capture Naru and her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers). While the siblings manage to escape with the Predator killing the traders, they eventually face off with Taabe sacrificing himself to save his sister and their dog, Sarii. After two ensuing encounters, she finally figures out the weakness of the alien — deactivates the shooting tech in its helmet, and takes advantage of the fact that the predator won't attack unless it perceives someone/something to be a threat.
Much like how Schwarzenegger's Dutch camouflages himself, the Hulu flick adds a similar line where she chews on a medicinal herb that cools the blood, thereby making it impossible for the creature to detect her temperature and look at her as a threat. She manages to knock off the helmet and later engages in a fight to the finish duel. Naru lures the alien to the same mud bog she finds herself trapped in earlier in the movie. While the creature manages to escape, it shoots itself after she places the helmet on the opposite side of the bog. As a prize, she decapitates the head of the predator, paints herself in its blood, and takes it back to the tribal folk.
The ending makes sure that there is no sequel, but it does set up the origin story of the Predator arriving on earth. There's always room to speculate if the aliens in the future movies came to earth to search for their own kind. It is a possibility, but with 'Prey' serving as a standalone movie, any connection is just pure conjecture.
'Prey' is streaming on Hulu.