All 8 Alien movies ranked from worst to best

4. Alien: Covenant

Fortunately, the prequels are much better than the crossover movies. Alien: Covenant is the sequel to Prometheus, the two films in the Alien prequel series. Covenant came out in 2017 and saw director Ridley Scott return to the franchise for another ride. Reprising his role from Prometheus, the movie stars Michael Fassbender alongside Katherine Waterston, Danny McBride, Jussie Smollett, Billy Crudup, Demián Bichir, and Carmen Ejogo.

Alien: Covenant takes place 10 years after Prometheus, following the crew on a ship called the Covenant. On their way to the planet Origae-6 to build up a new human settlement, they end up stopping by a different planet to investigate a transmission, where they find David. As the group explores the planet more, they discover deadly Xenomorphs.

The movie expands on the alien lore which is really awesome, and similar to some of its predecessors, Covenant really leans into horror elements and is overall extremely creepy. Its darker tone, paired with the performances — particularly Fassbender’s — make the movie a really solid entry in the franchise. It’s gory, suspenseful, and paced well, not to mention the visual effects are great.

With Alien: Covenant being the sixth movie in the main series, it’s easy to understand the critique that it doesn’t entirely feel original in its storyline. However, all the things it does right make up for that.