The Predator franchise features some outright classics and a few lesser outings, but it can be tough for the uninitiated to work out the chronological and release order of the series. The Predator movies started strong with 1987’s original sci-fi action horror thriller. As that description implies, director John McTiernan’s movie could have easily become a messy mix of genres. However, Predator benefited from an ideal leading man in Arnold Schwarzenegger, a strong supporting cast, and an appealingly tense, straightforward story of soldiers in the Central American jungle being hunted by the тιтular killer.

As the Predator series continued, the franchise’s grip on its promise loosened. 1990’s first sequel, Predator 2, was set in a futuristic 1997 Los Angeles, with the city in the grip of a violent gang war. 2010’s Predators was set on a distant alien planet where the eponymous monsters hunted the heroes, and 2018’s The Predator returned to Earth and the present for another urban reboot. However, it wasn’t until 2022’s acclaimed prequel Prey that the series regained the critical acclaim of the original movie.

How To Watch The Predator Movies In Release Order

The Predator Series Began in 1987

While the Alien Vs Predator movies complicate matters somewhat, working out how to watch the Predator movies in release date order isn’t too difficult. Predator comes first, with its release date of June 12, 1987. That original movie was followed by director Stephen Hopkins’ first sequel, Predator 2, released on November 21, 1990. After that, there was a long wait before director Paul WS Anderson’s Alien Vs Predator, released on August 13, 2004. Alien Vs Predator is followed by 2007’s sequel Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem, which in turn is followed by Predators.

Predators was released on July 9, 2010, and the franchise then remained dormant until the arrival of 2018’s reboot The Predator. Since The Predator under-performed financially and failed to impress critics, the series didn’t release another movie until 2022’s prequel Prey. Set on the Great Plains in 1719, Prey was an ambitious, daring prequel that radically diverged from the tone and style of earlier outings. Beginning as a historical drama, the prequel soon became a pulse-pounding thriller that offered an ever more stripped-down survival story than the original Predator’s plot.

How To Watch The Predator Movies In Chronological Order

The Predator Franchise’s Story Starts With 2022’s Prequel Prey

Whether or not viewers include the Alien Vs Predator movies in their marathon, watching the Predator movies in chronological order is a little less intuitive than revisiting them in release order. The Predator franchise timeline begins in 1719 with Prey’s story. Ironically, the most recent entry into the Predator franchise is the earliest story in its chronological timeline since director Dan Trachtenberg’s movie takes place centuries before Predator. The next movie in chronological order is Predator, but then things get a little complicated.

Predator 2 should be the next movie in chronological order since it takes place ten years after Predator in 1997. However, Predator 2 takes place in a campy, cartoonish version of the future, while 2004’s Alien Vs Predator is set in a much more grounded, recognizable version of 2004. Viewers can ᴀssume that the two movies take place in the same franchise timeline, but that is not clear from their settings. As usual, the Alien Vs Predator movies make it trickier to follow the franchise’s story.

ᴀssuming Predator 2 is followed by Alien Vs Predator, Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is the next movie in the series. Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem is set immediately after the events of its predecessor, and the next movie in chronological franchise order is 2018’s The Predator, which takes place in 2018. Another timeline problem arises here since it is not clear when 2010’s Predators is set. Viewers could reasonably guess that The Predator predates Predators but, without Predators ever mentioning its time period, there is no way to be certain.

How The Predator Timeline Connects To The Alien Franchise

The Alien Vs Predator Movies Only Make Sense In Predator’s Series Timeline

The Alien Vs Predator movies make sense within the context of the Predator franchise timeline, which is marked by numerous times that Predators have interacted with humans on Earth over the centuries. However, the Alien Vs Predator movies don’t fit in the Alien franchise timeline at all thanks to the story of Ridley Scott’s 2021 Alien prequel Prometheus, which retconned many pivotal events from the movies and effectively reset the franchise’s canon in the process.

As such, it is tough to say for certain how exactly the Alien and Predator franchise timelines interest. In the Predator timeline, Alien Vs Predator reveals that Predators have been using the Earth as a hunting ground for millennia and even gifted humans with technology in earlier centuries. Prometheus makes this revelation problematic by revealing that the Xenomorph may have been designed by David the android, meaning it is hard to work out how the aliens were present on Earth thousands of years before he existed.

When Does Predator: Badlands Take Place In The Predator Timeline?

Prey’s Followup Predator: Badlands Will Be Set In The Future

Although the Alien Vs Predator movies made the story of the series harder to follow, viewers should not expect the next outing to clarify things much. Director Dan Trachtenberg will return to the franchise for the upcoming Predator: Badlands, a standalone story that will be set in the future. Since plot details remain under wraps, it is impossible to know just how far into the franchise timeline’s future Predator: Badlands will take place. Since the Alien movies primarily take place after 2100, there is a chance that this outing will be able to clarify the overlap between the franchises.

Regardless of its connections to the Alien timeline, Predator: Badlands will be the first future-set Predator movie since 1990’s Predator 2. That sequel made the risky decision of setting its action only a few years in the future, meaning the movie’s version of 1997 is now comically dated. That said, its depiction of a gang-infested Los Angeles was always fanciful and over-the-top, rather than prescient, even when the movie was first released. In contrast, Trachtenberg’s next outing may offer a more believable version of the franchise’s future when the Predator series returns to screens again soon.