How Many Alien Movies Are There?

There are seven Alien movies in the franchise itself, released between 1979 and 2024, and the total reaches nine once the two Alien vs. Predator crossovers are counted. They break down as 5 films plus 2 spin-offs. The five main films are Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Alien Resurrection (1997) and Alien: Romulus (2024), and the two spin-offs are the prequels Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). The first television series, Alien: Earth, arrived in 2025 and sits alongside the films rather than among them.

The five main films were made by five different directors, which is unusual for a saga of this age. Alien 1979, directed by Ridley Scott, follows the crew of the commercial towing ship Nostromo, who are woken early to investigate a signal from a nearby moon. It cost $11 million to make and took $109.7 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Aliens 1986, directed by James Cameron, sends Ripley back toward LV-426 with a team of Colonial Marines. Alien 3 (1992), directed by David Fincher, strands her on Fiorina 161, a foundry world holding a small group of violent prisoners. Alien Resurrection (1997), directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, begins two hundred years after Ripley died, when scientists aboard the Auriga clone her from blood samples. Sigourney Weaver plays Ripley in all four of those films, which is why they read as one continuous story.

Alien Romulus (2024), directed by Fede Álvarez, changes the cast entirely. It follows Rain, a young miner whose work contract has been extended against her will, and her android brother Andy as they plan to board a derelict station in orbit. It cost $80 million, according to The Numbers, and earned $350.9 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Chronologically it falls between the first two films, so it is the newest release but not the latest point in the story.

The two spin-offs are both directed by Ridley Scott and both sit before Alien (1979) in story time. The Prometheus movie (2012) is set in 2089, when the archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway follow an ancient star map to the moon LV-223 aboard the ship Prometheus. Alien Covenant (2017) is set in 2104 and follows the colony ship Covenant, which is carrying sleeping colonists toward the planet Origae-6 when a human transmission pulls the crew off course. These two are the earliest films on the Alien timeline, and the Alien movies in order guide shows where each one fits in both release and chronological order.

Two further films mix the Alien creature with the Predator: AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007), directed by Colin and Greg Strause. The first is set on Bouvet Island near Antarctica and the second in the Colorado town of Gunnison. They sit outside the main Alien watch order, and their pages live in the Predator franchise, so they are not counted in the seven.

Alien: Earth is the first television series in the franchise, created by Noah Hawley for FX and Hulu, with Disney+ carrying it in most other territories. Its eight episode first season ran from August 12 to September 23, 2025. It is set in 2120, about two years before the events of Alien (1979), in a world governed by five corporations including Prodigy and Weyland-Yutani. Sydney Chandler plays Wendy, a hybrid made by placing a child's mind in an adult synthetic body, and the story begins when the spaceship Maginot crashes into the city of New Siam. Ridley Scott is an executive producer. FX renewed the series for a second season, announced on November 11, 2025, and Peter Dinklage has joined as a series regular. No premiere date for season 2 has been confirmed.

Another Alien movie is in development, but none has a release date. A sequel to Alien: Romulus was co-written by Fede Álvarez and Rodo Sayagues, and TheWrap reported on September 5, 2025 that Álvarez will produce it with Ridley Scott rather than direct. In August 2026, 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell answered "Nope" on X to a report that the sequel had been shelved. That reply is not a greenlight. Separately, TheWrap reported on October 23, 2026 that a new Alien film is in early development, with Scott producing and Aaron Guzikowski writing. Each project is followed on the Alien Romulus 2 page, and the full franchise overview is on the Alien movies hub.