Now that Alien: Romulus has come out , let’s take a look back at the latest entry to add another wrinkle in this already wild, complex, frightening timeline. If you’re a bit confused on how everything fits Piece together, don’t worry. I am here to explain. Fasten your seatbelts, because it’s time to travel over 200 wingless years of Alien history — both human and otherwise.
Prometheus (2091-2093)
The story begins long before Ellen Ripley (acted by Sigourney Weaver) even enters the picture, with Prometheus. Set in 2091, this film is the real starting point for all the alien madness. A crew of scientists, led by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and funded by the Weyland Corporation, head to a distant moon, LV-223, to meet the Engineers, who they believe created humanity.
Instead of answers, they find a bioweapon—a black goo that mutates and destroys life, and eventually leads to the creation of deadly creatures that resemble early versions of the xenomorphs. Things, predictably, go very wrong, and the crew gets wiped out (mostly). By 2093, we’re left with David (the android) and Shaw flying off in search of the Engineers’ homeworld.
Alien: Covenant (2104)
Fast forward 11 years to Alien: Covenant and we not only meet David off the grid but a colony upset with what he has done. The crew of the Covenant arrives at a planet they believe to be paradise, but soon discover that David has been using his late-life experiments with Prometheus’ Engineer bioweapon to create the ultimate organics — giving rise to the xenomorphs as we know them. The first fully-formed xenomorph is born, and it’s a monster. Eventually, David (posing as the Covenant’s android Walter) is on board the ship and headed to a new planet colony with intentions of spreading his horrific spawn.
Alien (2122)
Now, the one everyone associates with Alien — Alien — that is where Ellen Ripley (Sigourney) appeared. A commercial towing spacecraft, the Nostromo, is on a return trip to Earth with seven crew members in stasis. The commercial vessel receives a distress signal from an uncharted moon LV-426. This is where they discover an alien spaceship and the most disturbing part: Eggs.
After one of the other eggs hatches, it results in that classic facehugger attaches itself to a member of staff and before long, something bursts out from his chest. The crew all tries to survive as the xenomorph kills them one by one, leaving only Ripley and a cat survivor named Jonesy.
Alien: Isolation (2137)
Alien Isolation is a game that tells the story of Amanda Ripley, daughter to Ellen Ripley who has gone missing. This is a tense survival game where Amanda finds herself dealing with the xenomorph onboard Sevastopol Station.
Alien: Romulus (2142)
The Romulus is set in 2142, only five years after the Alien: Isolation events. Which means, Ripley (Ellen) is still out there in cryosleep somewhere and Aliens hasn’t happened yet.
Aliens (2179)
57 years have passed.
Ripley gets rescued and returns to her. A group of colonists has been attacked by the xenomorphs on LV-426 (the moon from Alien). Ripley teams up with some space Marines to go back and exterminate them all, but stuff goes wrong even quicker.
This time, we see and learn more about the alien queen laying all those eggs while Ripley has to take her head-on. Following a violent confrontation, Ripley along with Newt, a little girl whom she has come to love as her own child and Corporal Hicks wounded also manage to flee.
Alien 3 (2179-2180)
Alien 3 begins with Ripley crash-landing in an escape pod on the prison planet Fury 161. Worse news: a facehugger was still in the cargo bay, and there is now an unaccounted xeno on board. Or, worse still: Ripley finds out she has a queen inside of her.
The prisoners and Ripley struggle to fight the xenomorph.Ripley ultimately sacrifices herself by jumping into a furnace to prevent the company (Weyland-Yutani) from getting their hands on the creature inside her.
Alien: Resurrection (2381)
A couple of centuries after Ripley’s passing, she was cloned by the military in Alien: Resurrection. Why? They need to, so they may harvest the xenomorph queen within her DNA. She is actually a clone (Ripley 8), who has both human and xenomorph DNA in her.
The movie ends on her crash-landing to Earth with several survivors. Ripley’s not a human being any more but she still exists, kind of.
So, there you have it! A rough timeline of the Alien universe, from humanity discovering the Engineers in Prometheus to what will happen in Alien: Romulus. For a newcomer or die-hard, this is the moment to sink back into fanatical franchises and get caught up on some Alien. Surely in space, nobody can hear you scream.