How To Watch The Alien Movies In Order

Key Takeaways

If you’re looking for a film series to binge-watch late at night, you can’t go wrong with a horror series. A good one will leave you with the feeling that something is watching you, stalking your every step, hiding just past the shadows waiting to strike once you turn off the TV and get ready for bed.

Stretching across almost 30 horrifying years, the Alien films brought humanity face to face with the unknown of outer space, and with just some of the truly nightmarish ways a casual trip between the stars can go. Whether you’re looking to explore these films for the first time or want to take a trip through a rewatch, we’ve got all the Alien films in order, both chronological and in release order.

How Many Alien Films Are There?

The 1979 Alien film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Dan O’Bannon introduced viewers to the nightmarish creature known as the xenomorph. With acid running through their veins, two sets of jaws, and a sleek, black carapace that is practically indestructible, these creatures make for the perfect movie monster.

Watching all the Alien films means watching through the original four Alien films, also called the quadrilogy, two prequel films, and then the new Alien: Romulus smack dab in the middle of the quadilogy. That brings us to a grand total of seven Alien films, or nine if we’re being generous and want to include the Alien vs Predator series, so let’s take a look at what watching them in chronological order would be like.

How To Watch The Alien Films In Chronological Order

The 1979 Alien film sets the scene for the nightmarish reality that mankind has in store for it should it venture too willingly into the unknown of deep space. After encountering an ancient and ruined alien vessel, the crew of the Nostromo are attacked by a mysterious creature. Even as things start to turn for the better, the crew are slowly hunted by the xenomorph until only Ripley remains.

Alien catapulted Ripley, and actor Sigourney Weaver, to be one of the most recognizable horror film protagonists, with her often being the sole survivor of the xenomorph attacks.

The Alien films cross 298 years, starting in 2089 with Prometheus, and stretching all the way to 2381 in Alien Resurrection. One of the more fascinating elements of the series is that the Alien series seems to have locked in a retro-future tech aesthetic that the original 1979 Alien film established. Since director Ridley Scott was limited by the technology of the year he filmed in, the more modern and sleek design of some science fiction universes was not an option.

There’s a quick addendum to this timeline. There are two films that cross over from the Alien universe to the Predator one, that are a touch controversial for fans. First, there’s the fact that both Aliens vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem aren’t very good. They depart from many of the best parts of the Alien franchise in order to show some ‘cool’ fight scenes between the two extraterrestrials.

That said, if you choose to include them in the main canon of the Alien series, then they would take place in the “modern-day” of 2004, putting them more than 100 years before the original Alien film.

How To Watch The Alien Films In Release Order

Watching the Alien films in release order is much easier than in chronological order since you don’t have to jump around eras.

The Alien films has gone through several waves of releases, with the original film taking seven years to get a sequel, and then another six after that for the third film. Once Alien: Resurrection was released in 1997, the series would take an extended break until 2012's Prometheus, with Alien: Covenant a few years after that. Alien: Romulus took a few years to come out in 2024, giving the series a seven-year break.

And again, if you include the Alien vs. Predator films, which game out in 2004 and 2007 respectively, you do break up that long gap between Alien: Resurrection and Prometheus, but your willingness to include those films in the main canon of the Alien series might not be that high.