The Alien Timeline Explained: The Complete Movie Story in Chronological Order

The Alien franchise has never told its story in a simple chronological order. The movies were released across more than four decades, with later prequels going back to explore the origins of the mysterious creatures, while newer entries such as Alien: Romulus fill in the gaps between the classic films.

That makes watching the Alien movies in story order surprisingly complicated.

If you want to follow the fictional timeline rather than the order in which the movies were released, the journey begins with Prometheus, moves through Alien: Covenant, reaches the original Alien, and then continues through Alien: Romulus, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection.

Here is the complete Alien movie timeline explained in chronological order.

1. Prometheus

Story setting: 2089–2093

The chronological Alien story begins with Prometheus, even though the movie was released in 2012.

The film takes place decades before the events of the original Alien. Scientists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway discover ancient star maps hidden among archaeological findings on Earth. They believe the markings could be an invitation from an advanced alien civilization.

Their search eventually leads the crew of the USCSS Prometheus to LV-223, a moon connected to the mysterious Engineers.

Instead of finding the answers they expected, the crew discovers an abandoned facility filled with strange black containers containing a dangerous biological substance. The discovery becomes the beginning of a much larger mystery involving the Engineers, humanity and the origins of the creatures that will eventually become associated with the Xenomorph.

Prometheus also introduces David, the android created by Peter Weyland. David becomes one of the most important characters in the franchise because his actions continue to shape the story long after the events of this movie.

By the end of Prometheus, Elizabeth Shaw survives and leaves LV-223 with David, determined to find the Engineers and understand why they created humanity.

The film therefore establishes much of the mythology that sits behind the later Alien movies.

2. Alien: Covenant

Story setting: 2104

The next movie in chronological order is Alien: Covenant.

Set more than ten years after Prometheus, the story follows the crew of the colony ship Covenant. The crew is traveling through space carrying thousands of human embryos and hoping to establish a new colony.

After receiving a mysterious transmission, the crew changes course and investigates an apparently habitable planet.

What begins as a possible new home quickly turns into another nightmare.

The planet is connected to David, the android from Prometheus. His experiments with the Engineers' biological technology have taken the Alien mythology in a disturbing new direction.

Alien: Covenant provides a stronger connection between the events of Prometheus and the creatures seen in the original Alien. It also reveals more about David's ambitions and his fascination with creating life.

By the end of the movie, David has taken control of the Covenant and its passengers, setting up a dark chapter that eventually leads toward the familiar Xenomorph threat.

The story now moves closer to the events of the original 1979 movie.

3. Alien

Story setting: 2122

After the prequel stories, the timeline reaches the movie that started the franchise.

Ridley Scott's Alien follows the commercial spacecraft Nostromo as it travels back toward Earth. The crew is awakened from hypersleep after the ship receives a mysterious transmission from an unknown world.

The crew investigates the signal and discovers a massive alien spacecraft.

Inside, they find evidence of something far more dangerous than they expected.

An organism eventually attaches itself to Kane, and the crew brings him back aboard the Nostromo. What happens next becomes one of the most famous scenes in science-fiction horror.

The creature grows rapidly and begins hunting the crew one by one.

Ellen Ripley eventually becomes the central survivor of the story. Her confrontation with the Xenomorph establishes her as one of science fiction's most recognizable characters.

Alien is also important to the timeline because many mysteries introduced later in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant connect back to the world and technology glimpsed in this film.

The original movie takes place in 2122, not in 1979. The latter is simply the film's release year.

4. Alien: Romulus

Story setting: 2142

Alien: Romulus takes place between Alien and Aliens.

This placement makes the movie particularly interesting for anyone following the chronological timeline because it explores a period that was previously largely unexplored.

The story follows a group of young colonists who become trapped aboard the abandoned Renaissance space station.

What they discover connects directly to the terrifying biological technology associated with the Xenomorph.

Romulus also deliberately connects itself to the original Alien while expanding the mythology surrounding the creature and the experiments conducted with its biology.

Because the story occurs approximately twenty years after Alien and decades before Aliens, it works as a bridge between the first two major chapters of the franchise.

That means its chronological position is:

Alien → Alien: Romulus → Aliens

This is one of the biggest changes to the timeline introduced by the newer movie.

5. Aliens

Story setting: 2179

The story then jumps forward several decades to Aliens.

Ellen Ripley is rescued after spending years in hypersleep. When she returns to civilization, she learns that the planet where the Nostromo crew originally encountered the Alien has become a human colony.

Contact with the colony is eventually lost.

Ripley joins a group of Colonial Marines sent to investigate.

What they discover is far worse than the situation in the first movie. Instead of one Xenomorph, the team encounters an entire population of them.

Aliens expands the mythology considerably. The franchise moves from a single creature stalking a spaceship to a much larger conflict involving colonies, corporations, military forces and an entire Alien hive.

Ripley also encounters the Alien Queen, one of the most important creatures introduced in the series.

The events of Aliens take place in 2179 and lead almost immediately into the next chapter.

6. Alien 3

Story setting: 2179

Alien 3 follows directly after Aliens.

Ripley is once again forced into a terrifying situation after her escape from the colony. Her spacecraft crashes on Fiorina 161, a remote prison planet.

Unfortunately, Ripley has not escaped the Alien threat.

A Xenomorph is once again loose, and Ripley finds herself surrounded by prisoners who have very little protection against the creature.

Unlike Aliens, the third movie returns to a darker and more isolated style. There is no large military force capable of fighting the creature.

Ripley's personal connection to the Alien threat also becomes increasingly important.

The movie takes place in the same broad year as Aliens, 2179, and continues the story almost immediately after those events.

7. Alien: Resurrection

Story setting: approximately 2379–2381

The final movie in the main chronological movie timeline is Alien: Resurrection.

The story jumps roughly 200 years into the future.

Ripley herself is no longer alive in the traditional sense. Scientists have attempted to recreate her through cloning because they want to recover the Alien Queen that existed inside her.

The experiment succeeds, but the resulting Ripley clone is not exactly the same person.

The scientists also succeed in bringing the Alien species back.

Their experiment quickly becomes uncontrollable.

A group of mercenaries arrives aboard the research vessel Auriga, only to become trapped in a nightmare involving genetically engineered Xenomorphs.

Alien: Resurrection therefore brings the main Ripley storyline into a much more distant future and concludes the original four-film saga.

The exact year is sometimes presented slightly differently across timeline references, but it is generally placed around the late 24th century, roughly two centuries after Alien 3.

The Complete Alien Movie Timeline

If you want to watch only the main Alien movies according to their in-universe chronology, the order is:

1. Prometheus — 2089–2093

2. Alien: Covenant — 2104

3. Alien — 2122

4. Alien: Romulus — 2142

5. Aliens — 2179

6. Alien 3 — 2179

7. Alien: Resurrection — approximately 2379–2381

This order follows the fictional timeline rather than the release dates.

Where Does Alien: Earth Fit?

The Alien franchise also expanded into television with Alien: Earth.

Unlike the movies, Alien: Earth is a TV series rather than a theatrical film. Its story is set in 2120, which places it after Alien: Covenant and before the original Alien.

That means a broader screen timeline would place it here:

Prometheus → Alien: Covenant → Alien: Earth → Alien → Alien: Romulus → Aliens → Alien 3 → Alien: Resurrection

For readers interested specifically in the movies, however, Alien: Earth can be treated separately.

What About Alien vs Predator?

The Alien vs. Predator movies are often included in online Alien watch orders, but they are generally treated separately from the main Alien continuity.

The two crossover movies are Alien vs. Predator and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.

They combine the Xenomorph mythology with the Predator franchise, but their placement creates continuity issues with the main Alien prequel storyline. For that reason, many modern chronological guides keep them as a separate crossover branch rather than placing them directly inside the seven-film main timeline.

Should You Watch Alien Movies in Chronological Order?

The chronological order is useful if you want to follow the fictional history from the earliest events to the far future.

However, the release order tells the story differently.

The original release order is:

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

This order preserves the way audiences originally discovered the Alien mythology. The prequel movies were made decades after the original film, so they were designed with knowledge of the earlier movies.

For a first-time viewer, release order also allows the mystery surrounding the Alien to develop naturally. For someone returning to the franchise, chronological order provides another way to connect the mythology from Prometheus through Resurrection.

The Alien Timeline Finally Explained

The Alien story stretches across centuries, beginning with the ancient mysteries explored in Prometheus and eventually reaching the distant future of Alien: Resurrection.

The most important connection is the progression from the Engineer mythology and David's experiments to the Xenomorph encounters that define the original movies.

Alien: Romulus adds another important chapter by filling the gap between Alien and Aliens, while Alien: Earth expands the timeline into television.

For the seven main movies, the chronological path is simple once the dates are separated from the release years:

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

That is the timeline to follow if you want to experience the Alien movies according to when their stories actually happen.