(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.
81% 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:
#1
Alien (1979) 93%
#1
Adjusted Score: 114945%
Critics Consensus: A modern classic, Alien blends science fiction, horror and bleak poetry into a seamless whole.
Synopsis: In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey... [More]
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright
Directed By: Ridley Scott
#2
Aliens (1986) 94%
#2
Adjusted Score: 109147%
Critics Consensus: While Alien was a marvel of slow-building, atmospheric tension, Aliens packs a much more visceral punch, and features a typically strong performance from Sigourney Weaver.
Synopsis: After floating in space for 57 years, Lt. Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) shuttle is found by a deep space salvage team.... [More]
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Henn, Michael Biehn, Paul Reiser
Directed By: James Cameron
#3
Alien 3 (1992) 44%
#3
Adjusted Score: 55562%
Critics Consensus: Alien³ takes admirable risks with franchise mythology, but far too few pay off in a thinly scripted sequel whose stylish visuals aren't enough to enliven a lack of genuine thrills.
Synopsis: Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the only survivor when she crash lands on Fiorina 161, a bleak wasteland inhabited by... [More]
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Paul McGann
Directed By: David Fincher
#4
Alien Resurrection (1997) 55%
#4
Adjusted Score: 66401%
Critics Consensus: While Sigourney Weaver's feral performance as a resurrected Ripley restores some fun to the Alien franchise, the acid blood running through this fourth entry's veins corrodes whatever emotional investment audiences had left.
Synopsis: Two hundred years have passed since Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) died on Fiorina 161. Aboard the medical research vessel USM... [More]
Starring: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dominique Pinon
Directed By: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
#5
Alien vs. Predator (2004) 22%
#5
Adjusted Score: 26601%
Critics Consensus: Gore without scares and cardboard cut-out characters make this clash of the monsters a dull sit.
Synopsis: When the wealthy and ambitious Charles Bishop Weyland (Lance Henriksen) funds an expedition to Antarctica, he hopes to find a... [More]
Starring: Sanaa Lathan, Raoul Bova, Lance Henriksen, Ewen Bremner
Directed By: Paul W.S. Anderson
#6
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) 12%
#6
Adjusted Score: 14470%
Critics Consensus: The increased gore and violence over the first Alien vs. Predator can't excuse Requiem's disorientating editing, excessively murky lighting, and lack of new ideas.
Synopsis: Residents (Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz) of Gunnison, Colorado, are caught up in the crossfire when two deadly extraterrestrial... [More]
Starring: Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz, Johnny Lewis
Directed By: Colin Strause, Greg Strause
#7
Prometheus (2012) 73%
#7
Adjusted Score: 88289%
Critics Consensus: Ridley Scott's ambitious quasi-prequel to Alien may not answer all of its big questions, but it's redeemed by its haunting visual grandeur and compelling performances -- particularly Michael Fassbender as a fastidious android.
Synopsis: The discovery of a clue to mankind's origins on Earth leads a team of explorers to the darkest parts of... [More]
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba
Directed By: Ridley Scott
#8
Alien: Covenant (2017) 65%
#8
Adjusted Score: 87911%
Critics Consensus: Alien: Covenant delivers another satisfying round of close-quarters deep-space terror, even if it doesn't take the saga in any new directions.
Synopsis: Bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, members (Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup) of the colony... [More]
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride
Directed By: Ridley Scott
#9
Alien: Romulus (2024) 81%
#9
Adjusted Score: 102153%
Critics Consensus: Honoring its nightmarish predecessors while chestbursting at the seams with new frights of its own, Romulus injects some fresh acid blood into one of cinema's great horror franchises.
Synopsis: While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face... [More]
Starring: Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced
Directed By: Fede Alvarez
