My personal headcanon the holds the Alien, Blade Runner, and Predator movies all share the same universe. Further, these movies are all forerunners to the series Raised By Wolves where androids also have milky white “fuel blood,” alien creatures gestate inside other species, Earth suffers ecological collapse, and somehow ancient human life was seeded throughout a section of our galaxy. (I’m not alone in this assumption, although some of the creators of these fictions deny they are all connected.)
And just because I like the “cassette futurism” retro look of technology from the 1970s and 1980s, I’m adding a bunch of other sci-fi movies here – 2001: A Space Odyssey, Silent Running, Outland, Logan’s Run – despite their lacking of any Ridley Scott connection. Plus, who doesn’t love King’s psychic powers stories, Cronenberg’s Scanners, the various adaptations of Solaris, or John Carpenter’s The Thing?
Here’s my take on an alternate timeline mashing together the different franchises from movies, short films, streaming series, and books…
QUICK VERSION
* Ancient History … An alien species called the Engineers seed life across many worlds. Other alien species visit Earth over time, either out of curiosity or to hunt animals and humans for sport.
* Late 20th Century … Earth’s ecosystem collapses. Rich people start leaving Earth for new off-world colonies. The Soviet Union survives an attempted coup.
* 21st Century … Corporations gain political power and push innovation in FTL space travel, terraforming, and artificial humans (androids). Unstable emotional behavior by androids makes them illegal on Earth for a few decades before prohibition ends, but off-world use of androids is never interrupted.
* 22nd Century … Dominance of the Weyland-Yutani corporation. Rapid expansion of mining and terraforming colonies across many worlds. Discovery of xenomorphs. On Earth, religious wars make life almost impossible. Some societies leave the planet, while others abandon the ruined surface in favor of isolated underground arcologies.
* 23rd Century … Fall of Weyland-Yutani and other corporations. Rise of the United Systems Military (USM). On Earth, the planet’s natural ecosystem begins to recover.
* 24th Century … The United Systems Military (USM) rules space, colonies now rule themselves. A starship carrying xenomorphs crashes onto Earth.
OLD SECRET HISTORY
* Distant Past … An alien race called the Engineers visit other planets, seed organic life, and create a bioweapon capable of mutating and spawning from local fauna. (Prometheus)
* Distant Past … An alien race called the Yautja begin visiting Earth to hunt dangerous prey for sport and as a rite of passage. (Prey)
* Distant Past … An android called a Shepherd arrives with ancient humans on a terrestrial planet 587 light-years from Earth, a world later known as Kepler-22B. These humans are forced to devolve into more bestial and aquatic humanoid forms. Some of their history gets encoded into card-like metal plates. (Raised By Wolves)
PREDATOR / BLADE RUNNER (RISE AND FALL OF THE TYRELL CORPORATION)
* Late 1970s … Several secret and illegal experiments on individuals with psionic powers are underway, including those by the private military company ConSec and a government-backed program simply called “The Shop.” (Firestarter, Scanners, The Dead Zone)
* 1980s … Earth’s ecosystem collapses due to pollution, wars, and other human causes. In the years to come, all animal species will go exinct, crops will fail, sea levels rise, massive climate changes sweep the planet, and some areas of high smog stop seeing sunlight even during the day. (Blade Runner)
* 1982 … Contact is lost with two Antarctica science research posts, the Norwegians’ Thule Station and the Americans’ Outpost #31. (The Thing)
* 1987 … An elite team of U.S. soldiers are killed in Central America. (Predator)
* 1990s … The Off-World Emigration Program allows the wealthy and lucky to leave Earth. In the decades to come, a violent exoplanet “land grab” race grows among rival corporations looking to franchise their own colonies. (Blade Runner)
* 1990s … America see the rise of a new relgion called Mercerism based around shared empathy with a martyr figure, but actually the faith is all a staged hoax. (The Little Black Box short story, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? novel)
* 1991 … The Soviet Union (CCCP) survives an attempted revolution aimed at dissolving the communist state. The CCCP will go on to become a major influence on world culture by the 2040s. (Blade Runner 2049)
* 1992 … The HAL 9000 artificial intelligence is created at the University of Illinois’ Coordinated Science Laboratory in in Urbana, Illinois. (2001: A Space Odyssey)
* 1995 … South Korean astronauts rescue Czech cosmonaut Jakub Prochazka who had been on a solo mission to investigate the Chopra dust cloud beyond the orbit of Jupiter. (Spaceman)
* 1997 … Reports of an “invisible murder spree maniac” spread across LA. (Predator 2)
* 1999 … A black monolith, dubbed Tycho Magnetic Anomaly – 1 (TMA-1), is discovered in Tycho Crater on Earth’s moon. It soon emits a powerful signal burst aimed at Jupiter. (2001: A Space Odyssey)
* 2000s … Tyrell Corp. debuts the Nexus-6 android (Replicant) to serve humans on Earth and off-world colonies. The corporation had already made a name for itself by producing “animoids,” artifical animals. (Blade Runner)
* 2001 … A second black monolith (TMA-2) is discovered in orbit around Jupiter. A mission to investigate it fails when contact is lost with the spaceship Discovery, possibly due to a malfunction by its on-board computer HAL 9000. (2001: A Space Odyssey)
* 2004 … Wealthy industrialist Charles Weyland sends a science team to prove a pyramid exists buried under the ice in Antarctic. Shortly thereafter, the U.S. Air Force drops a tactical nuclear weapon on Gunnison, Colorado. (Alien vs. Predator, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem)
* 2008 … American Airlines Space Freighter Valley Forge is lost while in orbit near Saturn. (Silent Running)
* Late 2000s … Rival corporations use Nexus-6 soldiers in various military clashes across the off-world colonies. On Earth, rogue behavior by Nexus-6 Replicants leads to the creation of the LAPD Rep-Detect Unit and its special enforcement officers known as “blade runners.” (Blade Runner)
* 2015 … Con-Amalgamated Corp. builds Con-Am 27, a titanium ore mining base on the moon Io around Jupiter. (Outland)
* 2018 … A Yautja alien ship crashes on Earth, causing its pilot to be captured and studied by Americans before it escapes. Scientists speculate the Yautja combine genes from multiple species, including humans. (The Predator)
* 2019 … Tyrell Corp’s CEO is murdered by a rogue Nexus-6. (Blade Runner)
* 2020 … Tyrell Corp. rushes the Nexus-8 android to market as a replacement for the Nexus-6. Unlike previous models, the N-8 line does not have a fixed termination date and can live out a natural lifespan. Anti-Replicant sentiment grows, leading to human supremacy mobs assaulting and lynching androids in the streets. (Blade Runner Black Out 2022 short film)
* 2020s… Abducted humans begin showing up in small groups to be hunted for sport by Yautja on an unknown moon with an Earth-like tropical climate. (Predators)
* 2021 … A secret “miracle event” on a rural Californian protein farm sparks an underground Replicant resistance movement led by a Nexus-8 named Freysa Sadeghpour. (Blade Runner 2049)
* 2021 … Several Con-Amalgamated executives are arrested after a federal marshal on Io exposes their polydichloric euthimal smuggling operation. The illegal amphetamine-type narcotic drug keeps mining workers awake for days until suffering psychotic breakdowns. (Outland)
* 2021 … Medical corporation Pharmakom is ruined after evidence leaks online about its role suppressing a permanent cure for nerve attenuation syndrome (NAS), a condition related to virtual internet use (netrunning). (Johnny Mnemonic)
* 2022 … The Blackout: The combination of a terrorist EMP blast and various cyberattacks on the U.S. West Coast wipe out almost all digital records. (Blade Runner Black Out 2022 short film)
* 2022 … Genetic research by Weyland Corp. essentially cures cancer. (Prometheus promo video)
* 2023 … The U.N. Replicant Prohibition Act outlaws all Nexus androids on Earth, but their use continues in the off-world colonies. (Blade Runner 2036: Nexus Dawn short film)
* 2023 … Peter Weyland delivers his “We Are The Gods Now” TED Talk speech in Long Beach, California. (Prometheus promo video)
* 2024 … Lunar Industries suffers controversy after the public learns it has been using short-lived, android-like clones to staff its helium-3 mining operations on the dark side of Earth’s moon. (Moon)
* 2025 … Weyland Corp. emerges as a dominant force in space travel, terraforming, and synthetic life research. The corporation debuts its 8th generation android called the David-1 model, a competitor to the Replicants made by Tyrell Corp. (Prometheus promo video, Blade Runner)
* 2030s … Wallace Corp. emerges as Earth’s dominant planetside corporation in the post-Blackout rebuilding era. Weyland Corp. begins terraforming on Earth’s moon. (In some ways, Wallace rules the Earth while Weyland rules the stars.)
* 2032 … A rogue Nexus-8 attacks the Wallace Corp. headquarters. (Blade Runner: Black Lotus series)
* 2032 … Weyand Corp. unlocks a practical method of faster-than-light space travel. (Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report)
* 2036 … Niander Wallace Jr. convinces the U.N. to repeal the Replicant Prohibition Act. Wallace Corp. improves on old Tyrell Corp. assets to debut the Nexus-9 replicant. (Blade Runner 2036: Nexus Dawn short film)
* 2039 … Weyand Corp. debuts an innovation in producing breathable atmospheres, rapidly increasing the rate of terraforming exoplanets. (Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report)
* 2040s … Wallace Corp. markets a popular line of holographic AI girlfriends/boyfriends called Joi/Boi. (Blade Runner 2049)
* 2049 … A Replicant blade runner named K investigates the location of a secret “replicant child,” leading him to artifical memory designer Dr. Ana Stelline. (Blade Runner 2049)
* 2050s … Dictator Vilos Cohaagen begins his rise to power over the turbinium ore mining operations on Mars through his Mars Colony Security Force and monopoly on selling air to planetary colonists. (Total Recall)
* 2057 … DBA Corp. loses contact with its security forces on Solaris Station in orbit around the planet Solaris. The starship Athena is sent to investigate, but does not return. Both ship and station are assumed destroyed. (Solaris)
* 2084 … Earth construction worker Douglas Quaid suffers a psychotic breakdown while getting false memory entertainment implants sold by the Rekall Company. (Total Recall)
ALIEN (THE WEYLAND-YUTANI ERA), RAISED BY WOLVES (THE MITHRAIC-ATHIEST WARS)
* 2089 … Archaeologists interpret old star maps as an invitation from humanity’s extraterrestrial forerunners, a species they name “the Engineers.” (Prometheus)
* 2093 … Science vessel Prometheus is reported lost during a research mission to LV-223, one of three known moons of the gas giant Calpamos in the Zeta 2 Reticuli star system. (Prometheus)
* 2099 … Yutani Corp. acquires the assets of Weyland Industries and merge into Weyland-Yutani Corp. The corporation goes on to expand operations into deep-space mining, colony development, and weapons development.
* Early 2100s … Earth suffers open warfare between extreme militant factions from the Mithraic religious zealots and a pro-science Atheists movement, especially on America’s East Coast. During the wars, the Mithraics create Necromancer androids, deadly flying weapons powered by dark photons. (Raised By Wolves)
* 2104 … Colony ship Covenant suffers a partial loss of crew while en route to the planet Origae-6. (Alien: Covenant)
* 2122 … Commercial space tug USCSS Nostromo is diverted to investigate a signal on planet Acheron LV-426, resulting in the loss of the ship and its massive automated oil refinery in tow. (Alien)
* 2137 … The Seegson Corp. space station Sevastopol is mysteriously destroyed while in orbit around the gas giant KG-348 in the Zeta Reticuli system. (Alien Isolation)
* 2142 … A Weyland-Yutani probe recovers a large cocoon from the wreckage of the USCSS Nostromo. The object is taken for study to the Renaissance (Romulus/Remus) facility in orbit above the Jackson’s Star colony on the perpetually dark planet LV-410. A biological incident causes the facility to become abandoned. (Alien: Romulus) [Note Romulus and Remus have some mythic importance in the Mithraism religion – coincidence?]
* 2145 … Mithraic forces declare victory over their Athiest enemies, but their warfare has accelerated Earth’s ecological collapse. Unknown to the Mithraics, a pair of reprogrammed androids named Mother and Father have been sent to the distant planet Kepler-22B to birth and raise a new colony of Atheist children in the planet’s dry zone. (Raised By Wolves, Season One)
* 2148 … Mother and Father discover bones from a giant snake-like creature buried under their colony site on Kepler-22B. (Raised By Wolves, Season One)
* 2150 … A thermostellar device aboard the starship Dark Star suffers a logic fault and self-destructs near the Veil Nebula. (Dark Star)
* 2150s … Hadley’s Hope terraforming colony is founded on exomoon LV-426, soon home to 158 workers and their families and overseen by administrator W. Alan Simpson. (Aliens)
* 2157 … The Mithraic colony ship Ark of Heaven arrives from Earth at Kepler-22B and is sabotaged to crash by Mother, revealed to be a reprogrammed Necromancer android named Lamia. A small number of Mithraic colonists survive. A second Mithraic colony ship is hijacked by Atheists, renamed the Tarantula, and arrives to start Atheist Colony One under the direction of an AI called “The Trust” in Kepler-22b’s tropical zone. (Raised By Wolves, Season One and Season Two)
* 2158 … An unknown telepathic source begins sending voices and visions to human and android settlers on Kepler-22B. (Raised By Wolves, Season One and Season Two)
* 2160s … An ancient Shepherd android, nicknamed “Grandmother” by a young human colonist, resumes its mission to de-evolve humans on planet Kepler-22B. (Raised By Wolves, Season Two)
* 2173 … Birth of the first native child on LV-426 colony Hadley’s Hope, a girl named Rebecca Jorden (nicknamed “Newt”). (Aliens)
* 2179 … Contact is lost with the Hadley’s Hope terraforming colony on exomoon LV-426. Colonial marines sent to investigate are killed in action due to an infestation of xenomorph lifeforms on the moon. Shortly thereafter, the nearby penal colony of Fiorina 161 (aka “Fury”) reports sightings of this same xenomorph. (Aliens, Alien 3)
ALIEN (FALL OF CORPORATIONS, RISE OF MILITARY RULE)
* 2200s … Possible civil war between the corporations and the off-world colonies, or massive war between corporations, causes financial instability among many factions. Weyland-Yutani Corp. is absorbed by the United Systems Military (USM). (Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report)
* 2274 … On Earth, Logan 5 (a former Sandman state police officer) escapes the City of Domes underground arcology and discovers Earth’s surface ecosystem has recovered. He returns to report this news to the city’s artificial intelligence control computer, but its system crashes and forces the isolated human population to the planet’s surface. (Logan’s Run)
* 2300s … The USM has direct military control over space operations, building on abandoned research and technologies once pursued under previous corporate dominance. Among those projects is an attempt to study and militarize xenomorphs. (Alien Resurrection, Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report)
* 2381 … Military scientists aboard the space vessel USM Auriga conduct secret experiments to clone Ellen Ripley and filter out the DNA of a xenomorph queen in order to breed the alien species. Following the escape of several xenomorphs, the ship crashes on Earth. (Alien Resurrection)