Selene Underworld: Who She Is, Who Plays Her and What Happens to Her

Selene is a vampire warrior and a Death Dealer, one of the soldiers who hunt Lycans (werewolves) in the secret war between the two species. In Underworld (2003), directed by Len Wiseman, she is billed first in the cast, and Kate Beckinsale plays her in that film, in Underworld: Evolution (2006), in Underworld: Awakening (2012, directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein) and in Underworld: Blood Wars (2017, directed by Anna Foerster). The credits list her as Selene, with a separate Young Selene credit, and the cast lists give no surname.

Is Kate Beckinsale in every Underworld movie? Almost. She leads four of the five films, and the exception is Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), directed by Patrick Tatopoulos. That film is a prequel set centuries earlier, and it belongs to Rhona Mitra as Sonja, Bill Nighy as Viktor and Michael Sheen as Lucian. Selene appears only briefly, as the story leads into the opening of the first film. Sonja and Selene are therefore not the same actress: Rhona Mitra plays Sonja, and Kate Beckinsale plays Selene. If you want to see the films in the right sequence before you meet her, our guide to underworld movies in order lays out both orders.

How old is Selene in the Underworld films? None of the films states an exact age, so any number you see online is a fan estimate. What the story does establish is that her history is long. Viktor killed her family and lied to her about it for years, and in Evolution she learns that her father built the prison that held William Corvinus, the first werewolf. That ties her to events from centuries before the modern war.

Selene's most important bonds are with Michael Corvin, her daughter Eve, and Viktor, the elder who killed her family and lied to her about it. Michael, played by Scott Speedman in the first two films, is the human doctor she protects in Underworld (2003) and who becomes a vampire and Lycan hybrid in Evolution. See Michael Corvin for his full story. Their relationship is the emotional core of the first two films, and in Blood Wars Selene uses her memories of Michael to fight Marius after learning that Marius killed him.

Eve is her hybrid daughter, introduced in Awakening and played by India Eisley. In Blood Wars Marius wants Selene's help to find Eve, and Selene hides her own knowledge of where Eve is in order to protect her. Eve later finds her mother through their telepathic link. More on her is on the Eve page.

Viktor, played by Bill Nighy, is the vampire elder whose lie shapes Selene's life. He killed her family, and he also killed his own daughter Sonja after she fell in love with Lucian, as shown in Rise of the Lycans. Selene's hatred of Lycans rests on his deception. See Viktor, Sonja and Lucian for the other side of that story.

Kraven, played by Shane Brolly, is the vampire who leads the coven in the absence of the elders and clashes with Selene in the first film. Marcus Corvinus, played by Tony Curran, is her main enemy in Evolution (see Marcus Corvinus). David, played by Theo James, is the vampire who shelters her in Awakening and fights beside her in Blood Wars. His page is David. For the wider cast, see the underworld characters hub.

In my opinion, Selene's best scenes are the ones where the film shows her getting stronger, and that makes her the strongest character in the series by the end. How is Selene so strong in Underworld? She starts as a trained Death Dealer, drinks the blood of Alexander Corvinus in Evolution to gain great strength and healing along with immunity to sunlight, and after Blood Wars she returns from the ice with new powers. She also takes down some of the biggest threats in the saga: Viktor, Marcus Corvinus, Quint and Marius.

My pick for the best moment is the Evolution finale, where she pushes Marcus into helicopter rotor blades. It is a brutal set piece that closes the Corvinus storyline, and it works because the film has spent its length presenting him as nearly unstoppable. A close second is Awakening, where she tricks the Super-Lycan Quint into reverting to his human form and finishes him with a silver grenade. It shows that her strength is partly tactical, which I find more interesting than raw force.

The Blood Wars finale gets my third pick. A drop of Marius's blood gives her his memories, including the killing of Michael Corvin, and she uses her own memories of Michael to fight back and tear out his spine. That is the series at its most gruesome and at its most personal, and it is a fitting payoff for a heroine who began the saga as a soldier following orders. Perhaps the original film's turn on Viktor is the most important beat of all, though, because it sets every later choice in motion.

For a full ranking of the films she appears in, see underworld movies ranked, and for the order of events see the underworld timeline.