Alien Timeline: How to Watch the Movies in Chronological Order?

From Prometheus to Romulus to Aliens vs. Predator: the entire timeline of the saga.

Yes, obviously, the first one. Alienthat of Ridley Scottdates from 1979. And Alien: Romulus is the last part of a long saga spread over ten parts. But the story of the Xenomorphs is not told chronologically in the franchise. So how do you follow the saga in order? A little decryption of the Timeline.

Warning spoilers!

• 4 billion years BC: An alien race, later dubbed “The Engineers”, visits Earth and leaves behind one of their own. His body decomposes after drinking the black substance, and his DNA enters the water, recombining to create life.
• 35,000 BC – First evidence of Engineers in Scotland.
• 1st Century AD – Engineers prepare a “death ship”, filled with jars of black substance, to be sent to Earth to destroy their rebellious children, humanity.
• 7th Century: The Predators come to Earth every hundred years. Worshipped as gods, they demand human sacrifices for their rite of passage, which consists of hunting Aliens.

Alien vs. Predator by Paul WS Anderson (2004)

• In the present day, at the beginning of the 21st century, an expedition discovers Predators fighting Aliens at the bottom of a pre-Columbian pyramid. Humans are drawn there to become hosts for the Xenomorphs.

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem by Greg and Colin Strause (2007)

• After another fight to the death, a weapon from the dead Predator is entrusted to a certain Mrs. Yutani, founder of Yutani Corporation, which would later merge with Weyland Industries.

• 2091 – The USCSS Prometheus, a space exploration vessel built by Weyland Corp, leaves Earth on its journey to LV-223.

Prometheus by Ridley Scott (2012)

• 2093 – All but two of the Prometheus crew are killed after an encounter on LV-223 with an alien species and a resurrected Engineer. The ship is destroyed and Dr. Shaw, who escapes with the badly damaged android David, is taken on an Engineer ship to find the Engineers' homeworld.

Alien: Covenant by Ridley Scott (2017)

• 2094 – Shaw and David arrive at “Paradise”, a planet home to millions of engineers. He uses their ship's black toxic charge to destroy the entire population.
• 2104 – Covenant, a colony ship carrying thousands of humans and embryos, detours to an unnamed planet (Paradise) en route to Origae-6. There, the crew discovers David and a new species, the Neomorphs. David creates bioengineered aliens and brings their embryos aboard alongside the human embryos. The ship continues its journey to Origae-6.

Alien: The Eighth Passenger by Ridley Scott (1979)

• 2120 – The Nostromo spaceship leaves Earth.
• 2122 – The Nostromo lands on planetoid LV-426. After being infected by an alien facehugger, Commander Kane dies when an alien pierces his chest. He kills the crew one by one, leaving only Ellen Ripley and Jones, the cat, alive.

Alien: Romulus by Fede Alvarez (2024)

• 2142 – A group of young colonists, including Rain and her synthetic “brother” Andy, from the mining colony Star, enter Weyland-Yutani Station, the Rebirth, only to discover that it is experimenting on the original Xenomorph. Chaos and death ensue, as well as the birth of a human-alien hybrid, leaving Rain and Andy as the only survivors.

Alien 3 by David Fincher (1992)

• 2179 – After drifting in stasis for 57 years, Ripley is rescued but returns to LV-426. Arriving with a military squad, they find the sole human survivor, Newt, other facehuggers, a swarm of aliens, and a mortal queen. Ripley escapes with Newt, Corporal Hicks, and the android Bishop, and returns to Earth aboard the Sulaco. But while they sleep, Ripley is impregnated by a queen. The ship catches fire and her escape pod crashes shortly after on Fiorina “Fury” 161, a prison planet that houses a penal mining colony.

Alien, the resurrection by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (1997)

• 2379 – The United Systems Military clones Ripley (and her bio-passenger) from medical samples salvaged from Fiorina 161. They surgically remove the alien queen in order to reproduce the species, a number of whom escape aboard the Auriga, killing many. The Auriga crashes into Earth's atmosphere and explodes. Meanwhile, the Ripley clone escapes aboard the Betty with the android Call.