Alien is a franchise with two ways to watch it and one clear recommendation: release order. The films were made across five decades, and their styles swing from horror to action to philosophy, but the story of Ellen Ripley and the xenomorph is told in the order the films came out. This guide gives you the Alien watch order, explains where the prequels and the newer stories fit, and tells you what you can safely skip.
The Core Order: The Originals in Release Order
Start with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt and Ian Holm. The original is a haunted-house film in space: the crew of the Nostromo answers a distress call, brings something aboard, and spends the rest of the film trying to survive it. Then watch Aliens (1986), directed by James Cameron, in which Ripley wakes fifty-seven years later and returns to the colony world with a squad of marines, turning horror into action without losing the dread. Together, Alien and Aliens are the essential core of the franchise — two masterpieces in two different genres, telling one continuous story.
Then: The Sequels
After Aliens, continue in release order with Alien 3 (1992) and Alien Resurrection (1997), which carry Ripley’s story to its conclusion. Alien 3 strands Ripley on a prison planet, while Resurrection picks up her story in a cloned, stranger form two centuries later. Neither film matches the first two, and opinions on them are sharply divided, but both are part of Ripley’s arc, and both make sense only after Aliens. If you want the complete Ripley story, watch all four in order; if you want only the essential experience, the first two films are the ones that matter most.
The Prequels: Prometheus and Covenant
Decades later, Ridley Scott returned with two prequels: Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). These films are set before the original Alien and explore the origins of the xenomorph and the Engineers, the mysterious beings whose derelict ship the Nostromo crew discovers. For a first viewing, watch the prequels after the original films — they are designed to reward knowledge of the original, and their revelations land harder once you know where the story ends up. For a chronological rewatch, you can place them first: Prometheus, then Covenant, then Alien. Either way, treat them as a separate, more philosophical branch of the franchise rather than a required prologue.
Where Romulus-Era Stories Slot In
The most recent chapter, Alien: Romulus (2024), is set between Alien and Aliens, following a group of young colonists who scavenge a derelict station and encounter the creature. Its placement in the timeline is neat — it happens after Ripley’s first encounter and before her return — but for viewing order, watch it after the original films, not between them. Romulus is built from references to the earlier films, and it plays best as a love letter to the originals rather than as a step in a first-time watch. The same logic applies to the newer television and expanded stories: enjoy them after the core films, in release order, and let the timeline sort itself out afterward.
The Full Order, Summarized
The complete Alien watch order is: Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien Resurrection for Ripley’s full arc, then Prometheus and Alien: Covenant as prequels, then Romulus and the newer stories as a coda. Start with the original, and the terror that began on the Nostromo will follow you all the way through.
One last note for completists: several Alien films exist in alternate cuts — most famously the Assembly Cut of Alien 3 — and the franchise’s extended universe includes comics, novels and games that expand the lore without changing the film order. If you want more after the films, those are dessert, not the main course; the films above are the complete watch order.
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