The sci-fi series that cemented Sigourney Weaver’s status as an action star has endured for nearly five decades — its most recent entry, Alien: Romulus, was released in 2024. We chart the franchise’s highs and lows.

Alien: Romulus is the latest entry in a property that has shaped the sci-fi horror genre over almost 45 years. Like any storied series that has taken audiences in wild directions, the Alien franchise has had its ups and downs. We’re ranking them (excluding the two spinoff Alien vs. Predator films) from worst to best.

7) Alien³ (1992)

The third movie in the series killed Newt and Hicks, beloved characters from Aliens, off-screen in its opening credits. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is the sole survivor, crash-landing on the prison planet Fiorina ‘Fury’ 161, which is populated entirely by male inmates.

Ripley befriends Clemens (Charles Dance), the facility’s chief medical officer, as Fury’s residents are hunted by a Xenomorph that gestated within a dog. The cast also includes Charles S. Dutton, Paul McGann, Pete Postlethwaite, Brian Glover, and Ralph Brown.

Alien³ had a tumultuous production process, marking an inauspicious debut feature film for director David Fincher. The then-27-year-old maker of commercials and music videos, who had a background in special effects, was brought on board amidst chaos. The production had gone through two prior directors — Renny Harlin left, and his replacement, Vincent Ward, was fired. The screenplay was still being reworked as production began. Continued clashes between Fincher and the producers and studio followed.

The movie has a moody, oppressive atmosphere but often feels more downbeat than spine-tingling or thrilling, especially after the high-octane Aliens. While it was savaged by critics upon release, fans have come around to defending the movie. Not that Fincher needs it — he has gone on to greater things, including films like Fight Club, The Social Network, and Gone Girl.

6) Alien: Resurrection (1997)

Alien³ ended with Ripley’s heroic sacrifice, but in sci-fi, there are many ways that dead characters can return. Two hundred years after the events of Alien³, scientists on board the research vessel USM Auriga clone Ripley, succeeding with Ripley 8 (also Weaver). The clone possesses special abilities and is wild and animalistic because the original Ripley hosted the queen Xenomorph Chestburster.

The mercenary crew of the smuggling ship the Betty, comprising Elgyn (Michael Wincott), Johner (Ron Perlman), Christie (Gary Dourdan), Vriess (Dominique Pinon), Hillard (Kim Flowers), and Call (Winona Ryder), crosses paths with Ripley 8. Together, they must face off against the monstrous Xenomorphs, including a disturbing new variation of the species.

Alien: Resurrection offers up some junky fun but is often too unrefined and chaotic, delivering graphic violence but not the carefully engineered scares present elsewhere in the series. French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Euro sci-fi sensibilities do not jibe with Joss Whedon’s screenplay, so the result feels tonally mismatched. (Yes, the director of Alien: Resurrection would go on to make Amélie — talk about a genre pivot.) Still, the swimming Xenomorphs set piece is fantastic.

5) Alien: Covenant (2017)

The follow-up to Prometheus is set 10 years after the events of that movie. The colony ship USCSS Covenant, bound for the planet Origae-6, intercepts a mysterious transmission. Captain Christopher Oram (Billy Crudup) makes a detour against the advice of terraforming specialist Janet Daniels (Katherine Waterston). The synthetic Walter (Michael Fassbender) joins Oram, Daniels, and other crew members on the expedition as pilot Tennessee (Danny McBride) awaits their return.

The crew meets David (also Fassbender), a synthetic who was the sole survivor of the Prometheus mission. Our heroes quickly realise that the planet harbours something far more terrifying than the monsters that are pursuing them.

After Prometheus played somewhat coy with its links to the other Alien movies, Covenant attempts to pull the franchise closer in line with the originals, to mixed results. Some fans didn’t love the revelation that the Xenomorphs were created by David, overwriting pre-existing lore. At times, Daniels can’t help but feel like a pale substitute for Ripley, and the movie also noticeably uses CGI for most of its creature effects. Covenant feels stuck between philosophising about mankind’s origins (first done in Prometheus) and dishing out sci-fi horror and action.

While Covenant ends on a cliffhanger, Scott is reportedly developing a new Alien movie that will be a sequel to the former— hopefully, that film will answer all our burning questions.

4) Prometheus (2012)

In 2089, archaeologist Dr Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and her colleague/love interest Dr Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover a cave painting on the Scottish Isle of Skye. Funded by ageing billionaire Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), Shaw, Holloway, and their crew follow the star map depicted in the painting, traversing the cosmos aboard the USCSS Prometheus.

Weyland Corporation employee Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) supervises the expedition, assisted by the advanced synthetic David (Michael Fassbender). On the moon LV-223, they encounter more than they bargained for as the mission unravels, and otherworldly horrors are unleashed.

Prometheus marked director Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise he helped create, 33 years later. There was considerable buzz surrounding the movie, with plot details kept under wraps. While Prometheus invokes the imagery of the original Alien, the Xenomorphs themselves do not appear; we see a precursor form instead.

The movie has an excellent cast, especially Fassbender, but its supposedly brilliant characters are prone to making boneheaded decisions. Some fans feel that explaining the Xenomorphs’ origins detracts from their mystique. Prometheus couldn’t fully live up to its hype, but it still contains many memorable scenes. Chief among them is a harrowing C-section sequence, echoing the iconic Chestburster scene from the original movie.

3) Alien: Romulus (2024)

Taking place in between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), who lives on the mining colony Jackson’s Star with the synthetic Andy (David Jonsson), whom she treats as her brother. They join a crew of young people to scavenge the Renaissance, an abandoned Weyland-Yutani space station, for parts. With those parts, they can escape Jackson’s Star for greener pastures.

When they arrive, Rain and company discover the space station’s terrifying secret: it is where experiments were performed on the Xenomorph recovered by the company after the events of Alien, and they are not alone on board the station.

Director Fede Álvarez sets the franchise back in ‘haunted house in space’ mode, faithfully echoing the now-retro-futuristic aesthetics of Alien and Aliens. The movie’s greatest asset is its reliance on practical effects, including miniature models of spacecraft and satisfyingly gooey creature effects. However, it sometimes gets too heavy-handed with references to earlier entries in the franchise. (Not that fans of the first two Alien movies will complain.) Alien: Romulus doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but even in its reverence of Alien and Aliens, it still has a nasty surprise or two up its sleeve.

Alien: Romulus

</a>

Movie Listing

Alien: Romulus

This truly terrifying sci-fi horror-thriller takes the legendary “Alien” franchise back to its iconic roots…

View Details

2) Alien (1979)

The space freighter USCSS Nostromo is headed back to Earth with its crew: Captain Dallas (Tom Skerritt), Executive Officer Kane (John Hurt), Warrant Officer Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Navigator Lambert (Veronica Cartwright), Science Officer Ash (Ian Holm), and engineers Parker (Yaphet Kotto) and Brett (Harry Dean Stanton) — plus Jonesy the cat.

The crew is awakened from stasis by a mysterious signal, and they land on the moon of LV-426. There, they discover a derelict spaceship occupied by a long-dead skeletal figure, as well as many mysterious eggs. A Facehugger emerges from one of the eggs, attaching itself to Kane’s helmet and kicking off a series of terrifying events.

Alien was a game-changer for the sci-fi genre. Directed by Ridley Scott, the movie terrified and mesmerised audiences in 1979 and still holds up today. It was different from many sci-fi movies of the time in that its spacefaring characters were blue-collar workers and space truckers rather than scientists or soldiers. And its visceral, shocking Chestburster scene remains an all-time great scare.

Inspired by Swiss artist HR Giger’s work, the terrifying Xenomorph is one of cinema’s greatest monsters. The biomechanical, grotesque, and yet strangely elegant creature, played in its adult form by Nigerian artist Bolaji Badejo, was unlike anything audiences had seen before.

But Alien’s real star, apart from its extraterrestrial baddie, is its heroine, Ellen Ripley. The movie launched a young Sigourney Weaver to popularity and cemented her status as an action star.

1) Aliens (1986)

Fifty-seven years after Alien’s events, Ripley finally awakes from cryo-sleep. In the intervening years, Weyland-Yutani built a colony on LV-426. After losing contact with the colony, company representative Carter Burke (Paul Reiser) sends Ripley to accompany a contingent of Colonial Marines to investigate.

The team includes Corporal Hicks (Michael Biehn), Private Hudson (Bill Paxton), the synthetic Bishop (Lance Henriksen), Private Frost (Ricco Ross), Sergeant Apone (Al Matthews), and Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein). On LV-426, Ripley and the Marines discover the colony has been wiped out by the Xenomorphs, leaving a young girl nicknamed Newt (Carrie Henn) as the lone survivor. Ripley, Newt, and the Marines must survive the onslaught, eventually encountering the fearsome Xenomorph Queen.

While many might rank the original Alien over Aliens, the sequel is widely adored. It operates in a different mode, taking inspiration from the Vietnam War and emphasising action over haunted-house-style horror. Its explosive set pieces, including the unforgettable showdown between Ripley in the power loader and the Xenomorph Queen, deliver enough adrenaline to satisfy any action fan. The movie also introduces loveable characters, including Hicks and Newt, who form a makeshift family unit together with Ripley.

Writer-director James Cameron faced opposition from the film’s English crew, who clashed with his working style and looked down on him because they felt he couldn’t replace Ridley Scott. Cameron eventually had the last laugh, going on to direct blockbusters, including Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Titanic, and Avatar.