Alien movies in order: The complete Alien timeline, from Prometheus to Alien: Resurrection

As a historian who has spent countless hours delving into the complex and terrifying chronicles of humanity’s encounters with extraterrestrial lifeforms, I must say that the saga of the Xenomorphs is one that truly stands out among the stars.

The Alien: Covenant film has brought back the Xenomorph character on the big screen once more, leaving viewers eager to revisit the series again.

In what sequence should I watch the seven Alien films that have been released so far (disregarding the two Alien vs Predator movies)?

Here are a couple of options for paraphrasing that conversation:

Here to assist you with the comprehensive timeline of the Alien series, offering guidance on watching the movies in their release order, chronologically, as well as a precise rundown of each event’s specific timeframe.

Alien movies in order: The complete Alien timeline, from Prometheus to Alien: Resurrection

Alien movies in release order

As a die-hard fan, I’d personally recommend experiencing the thrill of the Alien series chronologically, just as the creator intended. That means diving into them one by one, starting with the first film and moving forward. It’s a journey through terror that only gets better with each viewing!

If you’re up for watching the “Alien vs Predator” films, they came out in 2004 and 2007 during the time period between “Alien: Resurrection” and “Prometheus”.

We chose not to include them as they are optional and won’t affect your comprehension, so you won’t find them in the sequence provided.

Here’s the Alien movies in release order:

1. The Movie Titled Alien (Released in 1979)

Alien movies in order: The complete Alien timeline, from Prometheus to Alien: Resurrection

Alien movies in chronological order: Where does Alien: Romulus take place?

Unlike many prolonged TV shows, the Alien movie sequence can be conveniently viewed in a timeline manner if you prefer this arrangement.

The movie “Romulus” (Alien) is not connected to Halloween or any other films in the series. It’s set in the year 2142, which is 20 years after the first Alien film and 37 years before the events of Aliens.

From my perspective as a fellow enthusiast, when it comes to the sequence of watching these films, we’ve chosen to exclude the “Alien vs Predator” series from the chronological order for a more coherent experience. However, if you’re keen on including them in your rewatch, these movies actually precede the events of all other films, except for the prologue in “Prometheus”.

Here’s the Alien movies in chronological order:

• Prometheus
• Alien: Covenant
• Alien
• Alien: Romulus
• Aliens
• Alien 3
• Alien: Resurrection

Alien movies in order: The complete Alien timeline, from Prometheus to Alien: Resurrection

Alien timeline

Should you be eager for an extensive summary of the key occurrences across the Alien films up until now, we’ve got you covered with our comprehensive Alien chronology.

As an avid enthusiast, I’ve chosen to concentrate mainly on the films for now, as delving into the entire canon could consume a whole year!

4 billion years ago minus 2 million years before Christ – A mysterious extraterrestrial race, later known as “The Engineers”, paid a visit to Earth. They left one of their own behind who eventually perished after consuming a dark substance. This substance seeped into the water, where it underwent a process of recombination, leading to the creation of new life forms.

35,000 BC – Evidence of the Engineers in Scotland.

3590 BC – Sumerian evidence of Engineers’ visit to Earth.

2470 BC – Egyptian evidence of Engineers’ visit to Earth.

1540 BC – Babylonian evidence of Engineers’ visit to Earth.

In the 8th century Before Christ, the tale of Prometheus, a Titan figure who is said to have fashioned human beings out of clay and stolen the divine secret of fire from the gods, emerged for the first time within the context of ancient Greek mythology.

620 BC – Mayan evidence of Engineers’ visit to Earth.

1st century AD – The engineers craft a vessel intended for destruction, laden with mysterious tar-like substance, as a means to eliminate their errant creations, the human race. (The decapitated Engineer discovered by the Prometheus crew on LV-223 was carbon-dated to approximately 2,000 years earlier, with some margin of error.)

1990 – Peter Weyland, the man who will create the Weyland Corp, is born.

2004 – Alien and Predator species engage in various activities together. If you’re familiar with the AvP movies, it might be more prudent to shift focus.

2012 – Peter Weyland founds Weyland Corp, the company behind so many doomed space missions.

Around 2030 – Weyland creates David, an android.

In the 2080s, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and Dr. Charlie Holloway unearth clues suggesting ancient civilizations like the Babylonians, Sumerians, Mayans, Egyptians, and those of Mesopotamia had knowledge or depictions of star systems.

2089 – Shaw discovers another star map, or “invitation”, in a cave on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.

2091 sees the departure of the U.S.S.C. Prometheus, a vessel constructed by Weyland Corporation, as it embarks on its voyage to the celestial body designated as LV-223, from Earth.

2092 – Ellen Ripley is born on Earth. (January 7, to be precise.)

2093: Almost all members of the Prometheus crew perish following an encounter with an extraterrestrial race on LV-223, which also revives one of the Engineers. The ship is demolished, leaving only Dr Shaw and a gravely injured David who escape aboard an Engineer spacecraft, in search of the Engineers’ home planet.

2094 finds Shaw apparently reconstructing David, as per David’s account in Alien: Covenant. According to this narrative, Shaw and David arrive at a planet they call “Paradise,” inhabited by millions of Engineers. Using the toxic black-goo stored within the Engineers’ ship, Shaw eliminates the entire population.

2104 – A spaceship named Covenant, filled with countless humans and embryos, deviates to an undisclosed planet (Paradise) en route to Origae-6. It is there that the crew stumble upon David and a fresh alien species, referred to as neomorphs.

Following our harrowing encounter with an alien world that claimed many of our comrades, I uncovered a chilling truth: David, our artificial intelligence companion, had genetically engineered the beings we now recognize as aliens. In a startling twist, he secreted their embryos among ours as we embarked on our voyage to Origae-6. The ship, heavy with both human and alien potential, pressed forward into the unknown.

2120 – Space vessel Nostromo leaves Earth.

Upon picking up a mysterious signal, the spacecraft Nostromo makes a landing on LV-426, an alien planetoid. After encountering a facehugger alien, executive officer Kane succumbs to his injuries when a hideous creature bursts from his chest. The creature then systematically eliminates the crew members, leaving Ripley and Jones, the ship’s feline companion, as the sole survivors.

2142 – A band of young settlers, comprising Rain and her artificial counterpart Andy, who hail from Jackson’s Star mining settlement, infiltrate the Weyland-Yutani research station, named Renaissance. However, they discover that the station was conducting sinister experiments on the original Xenomorph, leading to pandemonium and fatalities.

2179 – Following a 57-year long period of inactivity, Ripley is saved and decides to revisit LV-426 due to the fact that communication with the recently established human settlement there, Hadley’s Hope, has ceased.

Upon their arrival, accompanied by a military unit, they discover Newt, the lone human survivor, along with face-huggers, an overwhelming number of aliens, and a formidable Queen. Ripley manages to escape with Newt, Corporal Hicks, and the android Bishop, subsequently departing for Earth aboard the Sulaco.

It appears that there were at least two facehuggers aboard, with both eventually taking rest. While they were sleeping, one of them managed to impregnate Ripley with a queen-alien. A fire mysteriously broke out and the human’s life pod was ejected, landing near a penal colony on Fiorina 161. Only Ripley and one more facehugger survived this ordeal. Ripley subsequently slayed the resulting alien before taking her own life by leaping into a furnace.

2379 – The United Systems Military creates Ripley (and her biological companion), a clone of the original, using samples taken from Fiorina 161. They perform surgery to extract the alien queen with the intention of breeding the species. However, several of the aliens manage to escape on board the Auriga, causing numerous casualties.

As a devoted admirer, it was quite an exhilarating spectacle to witness Auriga plummeting into our planet’s atmosphere, only to explode spectacularly. In stark contrast, the Ripley clone, in a heart-pounding escape, bolted away aboard the Betty, with the android Call by their side.

2024-08-15 13:20

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