Although the plot ofPrometheusmight seem confusing, it is relatively easy to understand where Ridley Scott’s 2012 prequel takes place in theAlienfranchise timeline.TheAlienmovieshave undeniably gotten more confusing as the series has continued. Director Ridley Scott’s 1979 originalAlienmight have been a sparse, straightforward story of an unlucky spaceship crew coming across the eponymous monster while deep in space, but the movie set up an immersive fictional universe in its deceptively simple story. 1986’sAliensexpanded on this plot, explaining more about the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the Xenomorph itself.
However, astheAlienmovies got worse, the lore of the franchise grew more confusing. First,Alien 3killed off Sigourney Weaver’s franchise heroine Ellen Ripley, then 1997’s misjudgedAlien: Resurrectionbrought her back to life. 2004’sAlien Vs Predatoroffered viewers insight into the founder of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, only for 2012’sPrometheusto retcon theAlien Vs Predatormoviesand rewrite the entire story of the series.Prometheusis infamously convoluted, but its place in theAlienfranchise chronology is at least mercifully easy to ascertain.
Prometheus Is A Prequel To Alien Set 30 Years Before The Original Movie
Ridley Scott’s 2012 Movie Takes Place Before Alien
Although the two movies look very different in terms of their visual aesthetic,Prometheustakes place only thirty years beforeAlien.Prometheusis set between 2089 and 2093, whileAlientakes place in 2122.Prometheus’s story begins with the discovery of a star map that leads to the Engineer’s home planet, where the titular vessel’s doomed crew discovers the Engineer and inadvertently encounters a Xenomorph.Prometheus’s story changed theAlienfranchisecompletely, implying that the Xenomorph was created as a bioweapon by the Engineers and fine-tuned by Michael Fassbender’s David in the years that followed.
The ending ofPrometheusarguably leads straight into the beginning ofAlienbetter than its sequel,Alien: Covenant.
Although thirty years do pass betweenPrometheusandAlien, the ending ofPrometheusarguably leads straight into the beginning ofAlienbetter than its sequel,Alien: Covenant. The Engineer’s chest bursts open to reveal a Xenomorph, turning him into the terrifying, very dead statue that the crew of the Nostromo encounter inAlien’s opening scenes. However, the events of the intervening years have not yet been clarified in the franchise’s movies.Alien: Covenantdoes take place afterPrometheus, but its relationship to the timeline ofAlien’s beginning is harder to parse.
Alien: Covenantis set in 2104, closer to the beginning ofAlienthan the end ofPrometheus. UnlikeScott’s divisive sci-fi prequelPrometheus,Alien: Covenantisn’t too eager to link its action up with the events ofAlien. The original movie starts a few years afterAlien: Covenantends, but the events ofAlien: Covenanthave minimal crossover with those ofAlien. In contrast,Prometheussets up much ofAlien’s world, from the dead Engineer to the distress signal the Nostromo encounters. Despite the timeline gap and its many unexplained lore mysteries,Prometheus’s ending lines up squarely with Alien’s beginning.
Why Prometheus Looks So Different From Other Alien Movies
Prometheus’ Visual Aesthetic Is Defined By Different Technological Trends
One of the most striking differences betweenAlienandPrometheusis their different technology,particularly considering there are only three decades between their stories. The technology on display inPrometheusis slick and hyper-modern, whileAlien’s Nostromo spaceship and its technology are more primitive and simplistic. In reality, the reason for this is that real-life cutting-edge technology and its aesthetic changed in the years afterAlien’s release.
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In an interview with theBBC, Scott effectively dismissed this issue by saying “We’re so far in deep space that the idea of us getting out there you kind of sidestep that real question.” However, there is a satisfying in-universe explanation. The spaceship Prometheus belongs to the hubristic, absurdly wealthy CEO Peter Weyland, whereas the Nostromo is an aging, subpar ship that has few, if any, comforts for its underpaid, overworked inhabitants. As such, it makes sense that the CEO has access to sleeker, slicker technology than his underpaid space truckers even 30 years earlier.
Every Way Prometheus' Story Ties Into The Original Alien Films
Prometheus Has Numerous Links To Alien and Aliens
AlthoughPrometheuschanged theAlienfranchise’s canonsubstantially, that doesn’t mean that there are no links between the original movie and its prequel. Not only doesPrometheus’ ending set up the transmission the Nostromo intercepts decides later and the Engineer’s fate, but the prequel also proves that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had at least some knowledge of the Xenomorph’s existence before Ripley encountered the original movie’s monster.
Prometheusproves that the plot to profit off the existence of the Xenomorph fromAliensmay have dated back as far as the prequel, something that 2024’sAlien: Romulusexplains further.The black goo fromPrometheusalso ties into the story of the original series thanks toAlien: Romulus, with director Fede Alvarez using his movie to link the prequels to the original movies.
How Prometheus & Alien: Covenant Changed The Alien Universe
Prometheus and Alien: Covenant Offered A New Xenomorph Backstory
Prometheusand its sequel,Alien: Covenant, explained the origins of the Xenomorph, directly contradicting the story offered bytheAlien Vs Predatormovies. In the version of events shared by the prequels, David’s attempts to streamline the ultimate killing machine originally created by the Engineers eventually resulted in the Xenomorph. It is never entirely clear whether the Xenomorph viewers know and love was one of David’s creations or an Engineer-created bioweapon that predated the android’s antics.
Is Alien: Romulus Connected To Prometheus?
Alien: Romulus Builds On Prometheus’s New Franchise Lore
Despite how confusing this might seem,Alien: RomulusconnectedPrometheusto theAlienfranchise in a clearer, more tangible manner. Alvarez’s movie takes place in 2142, between the ending ofAlienand the beginning ofAliens.Alien: Romulusreveals that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had an entire secret lab filled with Facehuggers, and was attempting to turn the Black Goo fromPrometheusinto fuel for superworkers who could withstand the physically taxing horrors of space travel.
Alien: Romulus Sequel Will Avoid The Problem That Ruined Ridley Scott’s Prometheus Story
Alien: Romulus' potential sequel has already sidestepped the major mistake that doomed Ridley Scott’s 2017 followup to Prometheus, Alien: Covenant.
In the process, the Corporation instead inadvertently created monstrous hybrids likeAlien: Romulus’ new monster the Offspring. This blend of human and Xenomorph DNA was one of the franchise’s most memorably creepy creations ever, and its existence finally clarified why the Weyland-Yutani Corporation abandoned their attempts to utilize the Xenomorph’s DNA prior toAliens. However, as evidenced throughout the rest of theAlienfranchise, this was hardly the last time that the corporation fromPrometheuscame across the Xenomorph in their attempts to exploit the galaxy’s resources.
