The Alien franchise has prequels, sequels, and a TV series that jumps around the timeline. If you want to watch all the main Alien movies and TV shows in chronological order of the story, here's the order, including the years in which the events take place.
NOTE: If this is your first time watching, consider release order instead. Starting with Alien (1979) preserves the original film's mystery and makes the prequels more rewarding.
1. Alien vs. Predator
Story year: 2004 · Released: 2004
A team of explorers discovers an ancient pyramid beneath Antarctic ice, where humans become caught in a battle between Predators and Xenomorphs.
Crossover continuity: This film belongs to the Alien vs. Predator crossover series.
2. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Story year: 2004 · Released: 2007
Takes place immediately after the first crossover film, as a Predator-Xenomorph hybrid threatens a small Colorado town.
3. Prometheus
Story years: 2089–2093 · Released: 2012
Scientists travel to a distant moon searching for humanity's creators. This prequel explores the Engineers and the origins of the franchise's terrifying biological mysteries.
4. Alien: Covenant
Story year: 2104 · Released: 2017
A colonization ship discovers a seemingly idyllic world, where its crew encounters David, the android from Prometheus, and deadly organisms.
5. Alien: Earth — Season 1
Story year: 2120 · Released: 2025
When a mysterious spacecraft crashes on Earth, a group of survivors encounters dangerous extraterrestrial life. The series takes place two years before the original film.
6. Alien
Story year: 2122 · Released: 1979
The original classic. The crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo investigates a distress signal and encounters a lethal life-form. This is the starting point of the original theatrical film series.
7. Alien: Isolation – The Digital Series
Story year: 2137 · Released: 2019
An optional animated web adaptation of the video game Alien: Isolation, following Amanda Ripley as she searches for answers about her mother. Include this if you want the broader screen-based universe, although it is not a main theatrical film.
8. Alien: Romulus
Story year: 2142 · Released: 2024
A group of young scavengers boards an abandoned space station, where they discover the horrors left behind by previous experiments. It is set between Alien and Aliens.
9. Aliens
Story year: 2179 · Released: 1986
Ripley returns to the planet where the nightmare began, this time accompanied by a squad of Colonial Marines.
10. Alien 3
Story year: 2179 · Released: 1992
Following the events of Aliens, Ripley crash-lands on a remote prison planet, where another Xenomorph threat emerges.
11. Alien Resurrection
Story year: Approximately 2379–2381 · Released: 1997
Set roughly 200 years after Alien 3, the film follows a cloned Ripley and a group of mercenaries aboard a military research ship.
Important note about the Predator crossovers
The first two films belong to the Alien vs. Predator crossover series, which connects the Alien and Predator franchises. Their placement at the beginning is based on their 2004 setting, but they are generally treated as separate from the main Alien film continuity.
Main Alien storyline: streamlined chronological order
If you want to follow the main Alien storyline without the crossover films or the optional digital series, use this order:
- Prometheus — Story years: 2089–2093 · Released: 2012
- Alien: Covenant — Story year: 2104 · Released: 2017
- Alien: Earth — Season 1 — Story year: 2120 · Released: 2025
- Alien — Story year: 2122 · Released: 1979
- Alien: Romulus — Story year: 2142 · Released: 2024
- Aliens — Story year: 2179 · Released: 1986
- Alien 3 — Story year: 2179 · Released: 1992
- Alien Resurrection — Story year: Approximately 2379–2381 · Released: 1997
Release order is simply Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Prometheus, Covenant, Alien: Romulus, then Alien: Earth.
What’s next: Alien: Earth season 2 is officially in development, with filming set for 2026. There’s no release date yet, and one outlet expects it no earlier than late 2027, so it isn’t part of the order yet. When it arrives, it will most likely follow season 1 right after the 2120 slot.
If this is your first time watching, consider release order instead. Starting with Alien (1979) preserves the original film's mystery and makes the prequels more rewarding.
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