At the start of July, several movies from the Underworld franchise arrived on Netflix – giving fans the perfect opportunity to catch up with the long-running dark fantasy horror series.
Since the first film was launched back in 2003, five feature films and one animated short collection have been released, with more entries in the saga still a distinct possibility in the future.
Kate Beckinsale takes on the lead role of Selene in all but one of the features (and makes a brief appearance at the end of the other) while other big-name actors including Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen have also played prominent roles throughout the franchise.
But if you’re new to the films, what order should you watch them in? Well, there are actually two possible answers to this, depending on if you want to watch them in the order they were released or in chronological order of the events that take place.
Read on for a guide to both methods.
Underworld films in order of release
This is fairly straight-forward, and would make sense if you want to experience the films in the order that fans first got to watch them.
Luckily, most of them are available to watch with streaming subscriptions – the first four features on Netflix and the final one on Prime Video. Only animated short collection Underworld: Endless War is currently unavailable on streaming.
The order is as follows:
- Underworld (2003)
- Underworld Evolution (2006)
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
- Underworld: Endless War (2011)
- Underworld Awakening (2012)
- Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)
Underworld films in chronological order
If you’d rather watch the films in the order of events, then there’s only one change to your viewing schedule. 2009 film Underworld: Rise of the Lycans – the only one in which Kate Beckinsale does not star – is a prequel, and so should be watched before the other instalments.
The correct order is therefore:
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
- Underworld (2003)
- Underworld Evolution (2006)
- Underworld: Endless War (2011)
- Underworld Awakening (2012)
- Underworld: Blood Wars (2016)
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