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(Photo by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection. ALIEN: ROMULUS.)
If you’re looking to watch the Alien movies in order, there’s two ways to go about it: by release order, or in-universe chronological order. By release order should be the first thing you attempt since you get to see up front two of the greatest sci-fi/horror movies ever, so it’s like having you slimy acid cake and eating it too. Here’s how the Alien movies released, starting with Ridley Scott‘s 1979 original:
93%
Alien
(1979)
94%
Aliens
(1986)
44%
Alien 3
(1992)
55%
Alien Resurrection
(1997)
These four movies make up the Ripley quadrilogy, named after the barely surviving heroine, a career-defining role for Sigourney Weaver. Starting out as an regular officer on a commercial rig in deep space, Ripley is thrust to the forefront when an invasive (in more ways than one) parasite alien, later come to be known as a xenomorph, gets on-board and wreaks havoc. Corporate shenanigans, devious androids, and incredible production design and direction transform Alien from a deep-space haunted house story to a generational masterpiece. Things get weirder, wilder, and actionier as the series evolved, with James Cameron matching Scott in Aliens, David Fincher making his troubled debut with Alien 3, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet going cartoony crazy with Resurrection.
The franchise was put into hypersleep for decades, except that time in the middle where it got up, groggily made two crossover movies with the Predator, and then went back to bed:
22%
Alien vs. Predator
(2004)
12%
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
(2007)
Scott then came back for Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, which are set several decades before his original Alien.
73%
Prometheus
(2012)
65%
Alien: Covenant
(2017)
Fede Alvarez will be the first new director to theatrically helm an Alien movie in over 15 Earth years, with his Romulus aiming for a back-to-spooky-basics approach.
80%
Alien: Romulus
(2024)
Now, if you want to watch the Alien movies through in-universe chronological order, that means you start with the 2004-set Alien vs Predator movies. Have fun with that.
After that, the series jumps forward to the prequel duo: Prometheus is set in 2089, and Alien: Covenant in 2104.
Then we get to the original Alien, which takes place over the course of one awful 24 hours in 2122. With Romulus, the series will now detour over in 2142. Then we go to Ripley waking up from a long slumber in 2179 with Aliens, and Alien 3 taking place right after that. Did we just mention a lengthy space nap? Never mind because it’s then another 200 years to get to Alien: Resurrection‘s 2379, which closes the saga.
See more about the Alien movies in release order below:
