The Correct Order To Watch The Underworld Movies
It may be difficult to think of a film series that is more aesthetically dated than the "Underworld" movies, and I include certain century-old silent movies in that statement. The first "Underworld" film was released in the fall of 2003, and it was infused with all the genre trappings of its era. The long black leather coats, the blue-tinted photography, the use of slow-motion, and the stoic-yet-capable badass heroes all reek of post-"Matrix" malaise, appealing only to young people who were 16 in September of 2003. What's more, the film's soundtrack featured some terrible metal tunes that old-world metalheads found to be shrill and whiny. Sorry, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and The Icarus Line.
The premise of "Underworld" sounds fun on paper, but the bleak, steely tone of the movie made the movie less-than-fun to watch. For centuries, vampires and werewolves — called Lycans — have been at war, killing each other out of sight from the human world. Kate Beckinsale plays Selene, an ultra-capable vampire assassin — a Death Dealer — who wears fetishistic skin-tight vinyl, a feature more important than her personality. The plot of the first film will involve a man named Michael (Scott Speedman), who contains the DNA of a common vampire/Lycan ancestor. He'll eventually turn into a werepire. Or perhaps a vampwolf?
The series was conceived by Len Wiseman who directed the first two "Underworld" movies and produced three more. He and star Beckinsale were married from 2004 to 2019, so it's nice to see a couple working together. The "Underworld" series launched a modest media franchise that included tie-in novels, comics, and one video game. The TV series fell through.
There are, as of this writing, six "Underworld" movies. Here's the correct order to watch them.
The release order
The release 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)
The third film in the series, "Rise of the Lycans," is a prequel set centuries before the original in 1402. Selene is not that film's lead character, although Beckinsale does appear in a cameo. The main character is a very Selene-like figure named Sonja played by Rhona Mitra. The fifth film in the series, "Awakening," takes place in a world where the Death Dealer/Lycan war has been made public, and it is set a few years after the events of "Evolution." In it, Selene is held in cryonic suspension for 12 years, bringing the events of the movie to the year 2015.
"Endless War" was not a theatrical release, but a straight-to-video animated triptych that spans 122 years of Death Dealer/Lycan history. The first portion of that film takes place in 1890, the second portion takes place in 1967, and the third in 2012. Selene stars in all three shorts, and is voiced by Canadian actress Laura Harris.
If an ambitious "Underworld" fan wants to see all the films in chronological order, they should abide by the following list:
- "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans" (set in 1402)
- "Underworld: Endless War – Part I" (set in 1890)
- "Underworld: Endless War – Part II" (set in 1967)
- "Underworld" (set in 2003)
- "Underworld: Evolution" (set in 2006)
- "Underworld: Endless War – Part III" (set in 2012)
- "Underworld: Awakening" (set in 2015)
- "Underworld: Blood Wars" (set in 2017 or 2018)
No new "Underworld" films are currently planned, but Kate Beckinsale said in 2021 that she might want to return. She also floated the idea of a crossover with the Marvel character Blade. She also owns a pair of Selene's pleather pants, presumably for trips to the Goth club.