PSA: The Dog In ‘Prey’ Doesn’t Die

The dog in Prey, which is now streaming on Hulu, does not die. Before you yell at me for spoilers, please understand: This is a public service announcement. Personally, I spent the entirety of Prey‘s one hour and 27-minute runtime in a state of low-level anxiety over the fate of the protagonist’s very good doggo. I’m merely attempting to spare others that pain.

The fifth installment in the Predator franchise, Prey, directed by Dan Trachtenberg, serves as a prequel to the first four films. The movie takes place in the year 1719, in the Northern Great Plains of North America, where the Comanche Nation lived and prospered. Amber Midthunder stars as Naru, a woman who wants to prove herself as a warrior and a hunter to her tribe, despite the expectation that, as a woman, she should stick to healing and food preparation. When no one will listen to Naru’s warnings regarding the mysterious new predator (pun intended) on their land, Naru sets off to hunt down the beast on her own. But she’s not completely alone—she has her trusty canine companion, Sarii, by her side.

Sarii is more than just a good dog. Sarii is an excellent dog. Sarii is intelligent enough to understand commands in Comanche and hand signals, and helps Naru hunt by herding prey in her direction. Sarii never disobeys or barks out of turn. When Naru rescues Sarii’s tail from a bear trap—which, to be honest, was the most painful moment of the movie for me—Sarii thanks her with an adorable face-full of doggy kisses. Naturally, because Sarii is so darn lovable, I assumed the dog was almost certainly going to die.

But shout-out to Trachtenberg, who has a story by credit in addition to directing, and screenwriter Patrick Aison, because Sarii does not, in fact, die in Prey. There are several close calls, first when Sarii distracts a grizzly bear to help Naru escape attack—again, the absolute best dog—and disappears in the aftermath of the bear fight. But never fear, because you haven’t seen the last of this courageous canine. Sarii comes running back, barking up a storm, to face off with the big, scary Predator alien. Predator points its laser gun straight at Sarii, but the pupper is saved by the appearance of Naru’s brother. (The brother, does, in fact, die. But at least the dog doesn’t!) Later, during the final battle, that good, good doggo literally brings Naru her ax at the pivotal moment, allowing Naru to chop off Predator’s head. This is a hero dog! Sarii deserves the medal Chewbacca never got!

At the movie’s end, Naru and Sarii return to their community together, as two triumphant victors who have just saved the day. Honestly, it’s perfect. After all, Jonesy the cat makes it to the end of Alien. It’s only right that Sarii the dog should make it to the end of Prey.