All the ‘Alien’ Movies, Ranked: Get Up to Speed for ‘Alien: Romulus’

It’s been seven years since everyone’s favorite apex space predator, the xenomorph of the Alien franchise, has graced our screens and haunted our dreams, but that drought is about to end: Alien: Romulus, the latest entry in the legendary science fiction film saga is set to be released on August 16, 2024.

Before you subject yourself to another round of terrifying, deep-space suspense, it’s a good time to get up to speed on the whole Alien franchise. Fortunately, you can watch all of the Alien movies on DIRECTV!

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Here’s your guide to watching all of the Alien movies, either in order from best to worst (our subjective opinion, of course) or chronologically.

How Many ‘Alien’ Movies Are There?

Currently, there are eight Alien movies, including two crossover films with the Predator franchise, spanning nearly 50 years of theatrical filmmaking. The first film, Ridley Scott’s Alien, was released in 1979 and the most recent, Alien: Covenant, came out in 2017.

Ridley Scott has directed three of the Alien films (Alien, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant). Scott went on to become a fixture of science fiction films, directing classic films such as Blade Runner, Avatar, The Terminator and Terminator II: Judgement Day.

Other Alien series directors have included James Cameron, David Fincher, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Paul W.S. Anderson and the Brothers Straus.

How to Watch the ‘Alien’ Movies in Chronological Order

We’ll get into our ranking of the Alien movies in a bit, but if you want to get the full Alien experience, it’s best to watch the series in chronological order. The events of Alien: Romulus take place in between the first and second films, Alien and Aliens, and there are four films on the Alien timeline that are set chronologically earlier than those two original movies.

Here’s the order to watch to get the full story so far:

1. Alien vs. Predator (2004)
2. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007)
3. Prometheus (2012)
4. Alien: Covenant (2017)
5. Alien (1979)
6. Aliens (1986)
7. Alien 3 (1992)
8. Alien: Resurrection (1997)

And as a bonus, since two of the Alien movies involve appearances by everyone’s favorite terrifying space hunters, the Predators, here’s all the Predator movies in chronological order, too:

1. Prey (2022)
2. Predator (1987)
3. Predator 2 (1990)
4. Alien vs Predator (2004)
5. Alien vs Predator: Requiem (2007)
6. Predators (2010)
7. The Predator (2018)

Keep in mind, the Predator movies don’t necessarily tie together in one long story arc like the Alien movies. They’re more episodic in nature. This list is really just in case you want to see where the Alien vs. Predator films fit into the Predators’ timeline, too.

Which ‘Alien’ Movies Should You Absolutely Watch Before ‘Alien: Romulus’?

Before diving into Alien: Romulus, you’ll want to at least watch the original Alien and Aliens movies. These will act as bookend experiences to the story in Alien: Romulus and make sure you have all of the context you need before seeing the latest film.

Though the Alien vs. Predator movies come chronologically earlier than Romulus, they’re sort of their own unique thing that won’t likely tie into the story of the new Alien movie. Same with Prometheus and Covenant: If you want to better understand where the iconic xenomorph came from, check these out, but they aren’t crucial to understanding the story in Romulus.

Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection take place much further down the timeline, and you can skip those two, if you want.

We still recommend watching the entire series though!

All of the ‘Alien’ Movies, Ranked

So which Alien movie reigns supreme? Here’s our list of all of the movies in the Alien franchise, ranked from best to worst.

*** Minor spoilers ahead ***

1. ‘Alien’

It’s hard to beat the classic. Alien started it all, introducing us to what is arguably the most anxiety-inducing extraterrestrial killing machine ever devised in the franchises’ iconic antagonist, the H.R. Giger-designed xenomorph. The action starts when the crew of the spacecraft Nostromo is awakened to investigate another derelict ship in deep space. What follows is one of the most memorable misadventures in all of science fiction as Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and the rest of the ship’s crew desperately try to kill the alien creature and escape to safety.

Alien is a masterclass in tension-building directing, and it also includes one of the most iconic scenes in the franchise, and in the genre at large: the moment the alien bursts forth from a crew member’s chest in the mess hall and escapes into the ship’s depths to begin its rampage.

2. ‘Aliens’

Aliens picks up where the first film left off, with Ripley again waking from stasis only to find that the company she works for, Weyland-Yutani Corporation, is colonizing the planet where the xenomorph is suspected to have originated. What could possibly go wrong?

Aliens expands on the Alien mythos by exploring Weyland-Yutani’s nefarious goals with the xenomorphs in much more depth, setting the stage for the subsequent films. It’s big bad even also even bigger and badder than the monster from the first film. This one is required viewing in the Alien franchise and one of the best sci-fi sequels ever made.

3. ‘Prometheus’

Prometheus wasn’t extraordinarily well-received upon its release despite the film marking Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise due to its at-times confusing plot lines and loose ends, but it’s still one of the stronger and most well-produced films in the series.

Prometheus is an origin story for the xenomorph species, following the crew of the starship Prometheus as they search the stars for the origin of life at the behest of — you guessed it — Peter Weyland of Weyland-Yutani Corporation fame.

Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of the sinister android David is a standout performance in this movie.

4. ‘Alien: Covenant’

Prometheus was widely criticized for its many plot holes, so Ridley Scott got right to work trying to fill some of them with the film’s sequel, Alien: Covenant. This film is designed to tie the story from Prometheus to the wider Alien universe, and again follows the android David after the events of Prometheus and his identical and benevolent counterpart, Walter, who arrives with the crew of the colonization ship Covenant, to bring the origin story of the xenomorph home.

This film still wasn’t as beloved as the original Alien films, but it makes a good fast follow to Prometheus.

5. ‘Alien 3’

Despite its place in the original trilogy of Alien films, Alien 3lands a bit further down this list. Story-wise, the film kills off multiple major characters and most consider its plot to be among the weakest of the Alien films. In fact, director David Fincher went to great lengths to distance himself from the work, which was his first film.

The movie once again features Ellen Ripley, following her crew after they crash land on a planet with an abandoned prison on it. Ripley just can’t seem to shake the xenomorphs, and one of them once again hitches a ride on her ship before escaping to wreak havoc and force Ripley and the prison’s inmate inhabitants into a fight for survival.

6. ‘Alien Resurrection’

Ripley’s back again, albeit in a different form (We won’t spoil it for you here!) in the chronologically latest entry in the Alien franchise with Alien: Resurrection. Resurrection was the last main Alien film in the original storyline before future films pivoted to focus on the origin stories and Predator crossovers. This one didn’t quite capture the iconic thriller tone of its predecessors and had a distinctly more action film-esque vibe, but it’s still worth a watch to bring home the saga of Ellen Ripley.

7. ‘Alien vs. Predator’

Alien vs. Predator and its sequel are at the bottom of this list because they’re early examples of innovative cross-over filmmaking and lots of fun to watch, but they’re just not true Alien films. That said, both of these movies combine elements from two of the most famous sci-fi film franchises into one glorious, gory mess where two of the most adept hunter species in the universe try to out-do each other at their favorite game.

8. ‘Alien vs Predator: Requiem’

Requiem picks up immediately where the original Alien vs. Predator left off and takes the notion of a crossover to its extreme: It features a hybrid xenomorph-Predator species called, predictably, a Predalien and the efforts of a skilled veteran Predator as he hunts it down to eliminate it while it terrorizes a Colorado town. On the whole, this movie was widely panned as the worst of both the Predator and Alien franchises.

Watch ‘Alien’ Movies on DIRECTV

Grab your anti-alien liquid oxygen tanks, harpoon launcher or shoulder-mounted plasma blaster and get ready to take on the xenomorph in the Alien movies on DIRECTV.

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