Although the plot of Prometheus might seem confusing, it is relatively easy to understand where Ridley Scott’s 2012 prequel takes place in the Alien franchise timeline. The Alien movies have undeniably gotten more confusing as the series has continued. Director Ridley Scott’s 1979 original Alien might 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’s Aliens expanded on this plot, explaining more about the Weyland-Yutani Corporation and the Xenomorph itself.

However, as the Alien movies got worse, the lore of the franchise grew more confusing. First, Alien 3 killed off Sigourney Weaver’s franchise heroine Ellen Ripley, then 1997’s misjudged Alien: Resurrection brought her back to life. 2004’s Alien Vs Predator offered viewers insight into the founder of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation, only for 2012’s Prometheus to retcon the Alien Vs Predator movies and rewrite the entire story of the series. Prometheus is infamously convoluted, but its place in the Alien franchise 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, Prometheus takes place only thirty years before Alien. Prometheus is set between 2089 and 2093, while Alien takes place in 2122. Prometheus’s story begins with the discovery of a star map that leads to the Engineer’s home planet, where the тιтular vessel’s doomed crew discovers the Engineer and inadvertently encounters a Xenomorph. Prometheus’s story changed the Alien franchise completely, implying that the Xenomorph was created as a bioweapon by the Engineers and fine-tuned by Michael Fᴀssbender’s David in the years that followed.

Although thirty years do pᴀss between Prometheus and Alien, the ending of Prometheus arguably leads straight into the beginning of Alien better than its sequel, Alien: Covenant. The Engineer’s chest bursts open to reveal a Xenomorph, turning him into the terrifying, very ᴅᴇᴀᴅ statue that the crew of the Nostromo encounter in Alien’s opening scenes. However, the events of the intervening years have not yet been clarified in the franchise’s movies. Alien: Covenant does take place after Prometheus, but its relationship to the timeline of Alien’s beginning is harder to parse.

Alien: Covenant is set in 2104, closer to the beginning of Alien than the end of Prometheus. Unlike Scott’s divisive sci-fi prequel Prometheus, Alien: Covenant isn’t too eager to link its action up with the events of Alien. The original movie starts a few years after Alien: Covenant ends, but the events of Alien: Covenant have minimal crossover with those of Alien. In contrast, Prometheus sets up much of Alien’s world, from the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ 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 between Alien and Prometheus is their different technology, particularly considering there are only three decades between their stories. The technology on display in Prometheus is slick and hyper-modern, while Alien’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 after Alien‘s release.

In an interview with the BBC, 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

Although Prometheus changed the Alien franchise’s canon substantially, that doesn’t mean that there are no links between the original movie and its prequel. Not only does Prometheus’ 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.

Prometheus proves that the plot to profit off the existence of the Xenomorph from Aliens may have dated back as far as the prequel, something that 2024’s Alien: Romulus explains further. The black goo from Prometheus also ties into the story of the original series thanks to Alien: 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

Prometheus and its sequel, Alien: Covenant, explained the origins of the Xenomorph, directly contradicting the story offered by the Alien Vs Predator movies. 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: Romulus connected Prometheus to the Alien franchise in a clearer, more tangible manner. Alvarez’s movie takes place in 2142, between the ending of Alien and the beginning of Aliens. Alien: Romulus reveals that the Weyland-Yutani Corporation had an entire secret lab filled with Facehuggers, and was attempting to turn the Black Goo from Prometheus into fuel for superworkers who could withstand the physically taxing horrors of space travel.

In the process, the Corporation instead inadvertently created monstrous hybrids like Alien: 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 to Aliens. However, as evidenced throughout the rest of the Alien franchise, this was hardly the last time that the corporation from Prometheus came across the Xenomorph in their attempts to exploit the galaxy’s resources.

Source: BBC