Every Alien Film, in Order

Nine films and a series across 46 years, in release order and story order, with where each one streams in Canada, the US and the UK.

By Andrew Lovesey November 5, 2026 5 min read

Photo: 20th Century Studios

Trailer: Alien. Cast, where to watch and more on the title page.

Few franchises have been handed to as many distinctive directors as Alien. Ridley Scott started it in 1979, James Cameron turned it into a war film, David Fincher took it to a prison planet, Jean-Pierre Jeunet gave it a French fever dream, and Scott came back twice to explain where the creature came from. Fede Alvarez went back to basics with Alien: Romulus, and Noah Hawley brought the whole thing to Earth on television.

The good news for Canadian viewers is that the entire run sits in one place. Every film below, plus the series, has a title page on Disney+ in Canada, which is where 20th Century Studios‘ library lives. In the US, the films stream on Hulu, which also surfaces inside Disney+ for bundle subscribers. In the UK, Disney+ lists the films too.

The films, in release order

1. Alien (1979). Ridley Scott, from a script by Dan O’Bannon. The crew of the space tug Nostromo answers a distress call from a barren planet and brings something back aboard. Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto make up the crew. Start here, whatever else you do.

Tom Skerritt, John Hurt and Veronica Cartwright in space suits investigating the derelict ship in Alien — In pictures 3

The Nostromo crew gathered around the table in Alien — In pictures 3

2. Aliens (1986). James Cameron. Ripley wakes from cryosleep decades after her escape and is sent back with a unit of marines to a colony overrun by the creatures. Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Paul Reiser join Weaver. Louder, longer and built like an action film, it is the other half of the essential pair.

3. Alien3 (1992). David Fincher. Ripley’s escape pod crashes on a prison planet, and one creature comes with her. Charles S. Dutton and Charles Dance co-star. Bleak by design, and worth seeing for the director he became.

4. Alien Resurrection (1997). Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Ripley is cloned as a human and alien hybrid. Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman and Dominique Pinon fill out a crew of mercenaries. The strangest entry, and the last with Weaver.

5. Alien vs. Predator (2004). Paul W. S. Anderson. A research expedition to Antarctica walks into a fight between two alien species. Sanaa Lathan leads, and Lance Henriksen appears again. A crossover, not part of the main line.

6. Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007). The Brothers Strause take the fight to a small town on Earth. Optional, and the most skippable of the lot.

7. Prometheus (2012). Scott returns with a prequel. An expedition follows a clue about humanity’s origins across the universe. Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce star. It is more interested in creators than creatures, which is the point.

8. Alien: Covenant (2017). Scott again, following on from Prometheus. The colony ship Covenant answers a signal it should have ignored. Fassbender returns alongside Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup and Danny McBride.

9. Alien: Romulus (2024). Fede Alvarez. Young colonists scavenging a derelict space station find exactly what you would expect. A stripped-back return to the claustrophobia of the original.

And the series: Alien: Earth (2025). Noah Hawley’s FX series. A ship crash-lands on Earth and a young woman and a squad of soldiers face a new predatory species. Sydney Chandler, Timothy Olyphant, Alex Lawther and Essie Davis star.

The story, in timeline order

Release order is the best way in, because the prequels assume you know the original. For a rewatch, though, the timeline runs like this:

Prometheus (opens in 2089)
Alien: Covenant (2104)
Alien: Earth (2120, between Covenant and Alien)
Alien
Alien: Romulus (2142, between Alien and Aliens)
Aliens
Alien3
Alien Resurrection

The two Predator crossovers sit outside this line and can be watched whenever curiosity strikes.

How long it takes

Going by the running times on the Disney+ title pages, the seven main-line films add up to a little over 14 hours: Aliens is the longest at two hours and 18 minutes, Alien Resurrection the shortest of the seven at one hour and 49 minutes. Add the two Predator crossovers, both under an hour and 45 minutes, and the full film marathon comes to roughly 17 and a half hours, before a single episode of Alien: Earth.

A word for parents: every film in the main line carries an R rating on Disney+, and Alien: Earth is rated TV-MA. The first Alien vs. Predator, rated PG-13, is the only entry with a lower rating, which says something about the series rather than about that film.

Where to start

The Remote‘s advice: watch Alien and Aliens first, back to back if you can. They are two very different films about the same nightmare, and together they explain why everyone else kept coming back. If those work for you, jump to Alien: Romulus, which is set between them and plays almost as a bridge. Then decide whether you want Scott’s philosophical prequels or Fincher’s and Jeunet’s darker detours.

If the 1979 film’s slow-burn dread is the draw, there is a straight line back from it to the 1950s monster movies that came before it, and forward to Scott’s other landmark, Blade Runner, whose new series is covered in our Blade Runner story. For another franchise marathon, see our guide to Mad Max, and for one-night picks, our Halloween classics by market.

Where to watch

Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien Resurrection, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, Alien: Romulus: Disney+ (CA, UK); Hulu (US)
Alien vs. Predator, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem: Disney+ (CA, UK); Hulu (US)
Alien: Earth: Disney+ (CA, UK); Hulu (US)
Catalogue availability can change; check the title page in your region before settling in.