TAGGED AS: Horror, movies, Sci-Fi
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 your 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)
56%
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 a 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, which would 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 action-ier as the series evolves, 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:
21%
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 became the first new director to theatrically helm an Alien movie in over 15 Earth years, with his Romulus returning to a back-to-spooky-basics approach. And then FX darling Noah Hawley was brought in to give the franchise its first TV series with Alien: Earth.
80%
Alien: Romulus
(2024)
94%
Alien: Earth
Now, if you want to watch the entire Alien franchise 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 franchise’s most recent addition — and its first TV offering — in Noah Hawley’s FX series Alien: Earth, which is set in 2120, just two years before the film that started it all. The original Alien, which takes place over the course of one awful 24 hours in 2122, comes next.
With Romulus, the series takes a little detour in 2142. Then we go to Ripley waking up from a long slumber in 2179 with Aliens, and Alien 3 takes place right after that. Did we just mention a lengthy space nap? Never mind that, because it’s then another 200 years to get to Alien: Resurrection‘s 2379, which closes the saga, at least as we know it thus far.
See more about the Alien movies in release order below:
93%
94%
44%
56%
21%
12%
73%
65%
80%
94%
65%
