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The Xenomorph from the Alien film franchise is one of the coolest, most nefarious movie monsters ever hatched, with its acid blood, mouths-within-mouths, and diabolical claws. It pretty much single-handedly (and multi-teethily) invented the space horror genre and gave an entire generation a new boogeyman to fear. After we got the first Alien TV show with Alien: Earth, you may be wanting to do a full rewatch of the Alien franchise (including the Alien\/Predator films, which are<\/em> set on Earth). <\/p>\nBut what’s the correct order to watch them in? We’ve got you covered. Below you’ll find full listings for the Alien movies, in both chronological order and by release date. <\/p>\n
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The Alien Movies in Chronological Order<\/h3>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
How Many Alien Movies Are There?<\/h2>\n There are a total of nine movies and one TV series in the Alien franchise<\/strong> \u2014 four in the mainline series of films, two Predator crossovers, two prequels from Ridley Scott, and a standalone movie from Fede \u00c1lvarez. The newest addition, Alien: Earth, is currently airing its first season. <\/p>\n\n\nAlien Movies and Series in Release Order<\/h3>\n\nAlien (1979)<\/li>\n Aliens (1986)<\/li>\n Alien 3 (1992)<\/li>\n Alien Resurrection (1997)<\/li>\n AVP: Alien vs Predator (2004)<\/li>\n Aliens vs Predator – Requiem (2007)<\/li>\n Prometheus (2012)<\/li>\n Alien: Covenant (2017)<\/li>\n Alien: Romulus (2024)<\/li>\n Alien: Earth (2025) <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\nAlien Movies in Chronological Order<\/strong><\/h2>\n1. AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
The story of the Xenomorphs begins, time-wise, in the first of the two crossover films for the franchise, AVP. Set in 2004, Alien vs. Predator, from Resident Evil\/Event Horizon’s Paul W. S. Anderson, brought to life a “battle of the titans” concept that first originated in a 1989 comic. In the film, humans discover that Predators (aka the “Yautja”) have been coming to Earth for thousands of years. Old cults worshipping them would sacrifice themselves to a Xenomorph Queen’s brood — the facehuggers — producing adult Xenomorphs, so the Predators could hunt the “ultimate prey.” Sufficed to say, things go badly during the Predators’ 2004 hunting trip.<\/p>\n
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2. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Still set in our modern times, and therefore still happening before everything else in the Alien franchise, crossover sequel Aliens vs Predator: Requiem picks up right where AVP left off. An Alien-Predator hybrid — the “Predalien” — is now on the loose in a small Colorado town. A skilled, veteran Predator arrives to help clean up the mess and an ample amount of carnage ensues. This would be the final crossover film of the Alien franchise. You can see our guide to the Predator movies in order for more info.<\/p>\n
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3. Prometheus (2012)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott returned to the franchise he created in 1979 with the star-studded prequel film, Prometheus. Here, in the late 21st Century<\/em>, Peter Weyland (presumedly a descendant of AVP’s Charles Weyland) funds a cosmic trip into the unknown, following a star map left on Earth that might lead the crew of the Prometheus to the beings who created humankind. Sadly, the crew also stumbles across these creators’ bio-weapon — the Xenomorph. Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, and Charlize Theron star.<\/p>\nRead our <\/em>review of Prometheus<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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4. Alien: Covenant (2017)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Still in prequel mode here, as Alien: Covenant is a sequel to Prometheus, the story picks up 11 years later and follows a colonization ship. The crew gets pulled out of stasis years early and heads to a different target planet, a possible “utopia,” to track down a distress signal. The downed ship emitting the message, however, is connected to the previous movie and contains all sorts of sinister things — ranging from Xenomorphs to androids. The film doesn’t exactly take us up to the doorstep of 1979’s Alien, as there’s room for more story if deemed so, but it does get us close. Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demi\u00e1n Bichir, and a returning Michael Fassbender star.<\/p>\n
Read our <\/em>review of Alien: Covenent<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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5. Alien: Earth (2025) <\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Alien: Earth premieres tonight, so this description is going to be light on plot details, but one thing we know for sure is how the series fits into the Alien timeline. Alien: Earth takes place just two years before the original Alien movie, in the year 2120. The series follows the survivors of the space vessel Maginot after crash-landing on none other than our very own Earth, where they come face to face with one of the universe’s strongest threats. <\/p>\n
Read our <\/em>spoiler-free review of Alien: Earth Season 1<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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6. Alien (1979)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Space would never feel the same after Ridley Scott’s landmark horror film, Alien, which featured the hardscrabble crew of a commercial space tug, the Nostromo, accidentally discovering a moon full of Xenomorph eggs. With no knowledge of what these creatures are or how they cocoon inside humans before bursting out and rapidly growing into killing machines, these underpaid workers — played by Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, and hero-in-the-making Sigourney Weaver — find themselves going toe-to-toe with a cosmic nightmare.<\/p>\n
Aliens also made our list of one of the <\/em>best Sci-Fi movies<\/em> of all time. <\/em><\/p>\n\n
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7. Alien: Romulus (2024)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
The newest Alien movie is a standalone film from Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead<\/em>) that takes place about 20 years after the events of the first Alien. Rain Carradine (played by Cailee Spaeny) and her brother join a group of young space colonizers’ efforts to escape a life of deadly labor on their incredibly isolated home planet. When an abandoned Weyland-Yutani vessel appears in the planet’s atmosphere, the group believes their best chance at escape is using the ship’s cryo pods. Of course, however, they soon discover the terrifying reason the vessel was abandoned in the first place. Alvarez takes plenty of inspiration from previous Alien movies for his addition to the franchise, as well as Alien video games and even The Last of Us. <\/p>\nRead our <\/em>review of Alien: Romulus<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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8. Aliens (1986)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
Terminator director James Cameron, before creating his own landmark sequel with T2: Judgment Day, gifted us with Aliens, taking the slow-boil brutality of the Ridley Scott original and ramping it up into a full-tilt masterpiece. Sigourney Weaver, returning as Ellen Ripley, would solidify herself as an action hero icon in this thrilling, endlessly-quotable film that would introduce the world to idea of space marines AND space marines getting their asses kicked, pal! Aliens would handily feature more than one Xenomorph (hence the plural title) as well as stars Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Paul Reiser, Lance Henriksen (who would play Charles Weyland decades later in AVP) and Carrie Henn.<\/p>\n
9. Alien 3 (1992)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
An appreciation for Alien 3 eventually bubbled up over the past 30 years but at the time David Fincher’s directorial debut (three years before Se7en) would be deemed thin, grim, and, essentially, disappointing regarding Ripley’s story (despite it giving us one of the most iconic images from the franchise, seen above). Alien 3 picks up right where Aliens left off, as the Colonial Marine spaceship, the Sulaco, is destroyed from within by a Xenomorph and an escape pod carries Ripley to a planet housing a penal colony. There, she and the inmates must deal with a rampaging alien before it massacres them all.<\/p>\n
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10. Alien Resurrection (1997)<\/h3>\n <\/p>\n<\/output><\/p>\n
The final film in the Ripley Saga, Alien Resurrection, hurls us 200 years beyond the events of Aliens and Alien 3 and into the inner workings of a military project aboard the USM Auriga that uses Ellen Ripley clones (and kidnapped humans) to try and successfully breed Xenomorphs. The City of Lost Children and Am\u00e9lie’s Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs this bizarrely-horrific chapter with cartoonish flare, casting Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, J. E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, and Michael Wincott as the story’s new space grunts. The film ends with a possible tease of Xenomorphs headed to Earth, though we’d never get that story as a follow up (only in crossover prequel form with AVP).<\/p>\n
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What’s Next for the Alien Franchise? <\/h2>\n <\/p>\nRidley Scott recently announced his departure from the franchise in an interview with Screenrant. After the success of last year’s Alien: Romulus, there have been talks of a sequel, with director Fede Alvarez revealing that the new film could start shooting this year. An official release date has not been set, but it’s a promising update from the latest Alien director.<\/p>\n
Beyond the big screen, the first Alien TV series hit FX and Hulu earlier this year with a second season already on the way. While Alien: Earth, is another prequel to the original Alien films, showrunner Noah Hawley isn’t too attached to the backstory reveals from Prometheus. <\/p>\n
Otherwise, Alien references made their way into Predator: Badlands, potentially hitting at more crossovers in the future. <\/p>\n
More Alien Deep Dives<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nRead Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Xenomorph from the Alien film franchise is one of the coolest, most nefarious movie monsters ever hatched, with its acid blood, mouths-within-mouths, and diabolical…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[2077,8585,2867,3345,109,6226],"class_list":["post-24895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-gadgets-reviews","tag-alien","tag-chronological","tag-explained","tag-movies","tag-order","tag-timeline","wpcat-32-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}