Which Alien movies do you need to see before Alien: Romulus?

It has been 45 years since director Ridley Scott’s Alien first blew moviegoers away, and its cultural impact doesn’t seem to have diminished in the slightest. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is still an icon, the Xenomorphs are still terrifying, and the franchise it has launched is still going strong.

Having taken a few years off after some disappointing and confusing entries, the Alien franchise has finally returned with director Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus, a film that certainly has its ups and downs and has even generated some division among Alien enthusiasts since debuting on August 16.

For the most part, Romulus brings the Alien series back to basics. It introduces a new crew of space colonist characters, led by Rain Carradine (Cailee Spaeny), who take it upon themselves to scavenge the wreckage of a nearby abandoned ship, the USCSS Nostromo. Little do they realize once they board the ship that it’s not entirely empty. Before they know it, they’re set upon by alien hordes, forced to fight for their lives and do everything in their power to escape before it’s too late.

Is it the most lore-heavy or game-changing installment in the Alien saga? Not quite, but there’s still plenty to enjoy and plenty to study up on before seeing it. If you want to get the most out of Alien: Romulus, these are the films in the franchise you should check out first.

Prometheus comes first

Compared to most other Alien movies, 2012’s Alien: Prometheus is quite ambitious. It’s not so much a straight-up science fiction horror movie as much as it is a massive, epic lore dump explaining where the Xenomorphs came from, how and by who they were created, and what their earliest interactions with humanity were like. While there are plenty of moviegoers and critics out there who find the film to be a bit of a drag, the film isn’t a total swing-and-miss.

Prometheus does an excellent job providing an origin story for the Xenomorphs in all of their biomechanical horror and offers some truly compelling performances. Most notable is Michael Fassbender as the android David. Additionally, Prometheus is a visual spectacle with grand yet spine-chilling settings, excellent camera work, and breathtaking costumes. To top it all off, the plot, while a bit messy at times, is fascinating and sure to Intrigue those new to the Alien series.

At the end of the day, Prometheus doesn’t have many deep-cut connections to Romulus as it is set a while before it in the year 2093, but it does lay the groundwork for both it and the other Alien films.

Alien: Covenant is worth checking out, but not overly-essential

Moving ahead roughly 11 years after the events of Prometheus, we get 2017’s Alien: Covenant. While still maintaining some of the grandeur of its predecessor, Covenant leans more into the hallmarks of the Alien saga.

A group of colonists land on a remote planet that seems to be nothing short of perfect. Of course, having seen Prometheus, we, as audience members, know that the presence of Fassbender’s David is not a good sign. In short order, the colonists have to defend themselves from far more Xenomorph-looking Xenomorphs than those present in the 2012 film.

Even though in tone and style, Covenant angles into what made the Alien films so beloved and recognizable. It very much maintains the narrative thread of the somewhat tonally distant Prometheus while revealing more about the evolution of the Xenomorphs. This may be fascinating for some, especially those who found Prometheus engaging, but to others, this could make Covenant entirely skippable.

Much like Prometheus, Covenant isn’t too closely tied to Romulus outside of its larger lore connections. So, if you’re into the lore of the franchise, it’s definitely worth checking out before Romulus. If not, you could watch it for entertainment value, but it’s not quite essential.

Alien is a must before Romulus

With Prometheus and Covenant behind us, we now move on to what is either the best or the second-best film in the entire Alien saga, depending on your personal taste.

1979’s Alien started it all, with the crew of the USCSS Nostromo being picked off one by one by a mysterious and frightening alien entity. In the end, Ripley is the one brave enough to stand toe-to-toe with the Xenomorph, defeating it once and for all…or so she thought.

As has been said for decades, Alien is a masterclass in horror, science fiction, and the intersection of the two, but those aren’t the only reasons why you should check it out before giving Romulus a try. It’s quite literally a prequel to the new film, set 20 years before Romulus in the year 2122.

As you’ve likely pieced together already, the USCSS Nostromo Rain and her companions investigation in Romulus is the exact wreckage left behind by Ripley, her fellow crew members, and the Xenomorph in Alien. It doesn’t get much more direct than that, but in all honesty, even if they weren’t connected, no Alien series rewatch of any kind is complete without this film.

What about the Alien vs. Predator duology?

On paper, a crossover between the Xenomorph of the Alien franchise and the Yautja from the Predator franchise should be a match made movie heaven. In truth, these legendary silver screen creatures’ two meetings on the big screen have left much to be desired.

Sure, seeing them come to blows in Alien vs. Predator and its sequel, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, is a fun novelty, but as far as full movies go, they miss the mark in multiple ways. The human characters are forgettable, the plots are uninspired, and for the most part, they don’t do much to push either franchise forward.

The only reason the AVP duology is even being discussed here is because they supposedly take place in the year 2004, nearly a full century before Prometheus. Thus, one might imagine that they’re needed to understand all of the films that have been mentioned on this list. In reality, the existence of Prometheus effectively erases them from the Alien franchise canon. If you want to watch them anyway for one reason or another, feel free, but just because they’re set before Romulus does not mean that watching or not watching them will impact your understanding of the new movie.

With that, your pre-Romulus viewing guide is complete. Once you’ve watched it, you’ll be in a good spot to give Romulus a go. The feature is now playing exclusively in theaters.