Let's be real for a second. If you grew up in the early 2000s, you probably spent at least one weekend trying to look cool in a floor-length leather trench coat. We can all thank Kate Beckinsale for that. The Underworld franchise didn't just give us a gritty, rain-slicked aesthetic; it handed us a tangled web of vampire-werewolf lore that somehow managed to survive five films, an anime, and a decade and a half of varying critical reception.
But here’s the thing. Watching the underworld movies in order isn't as simple as just hitting play on the first one you find on a streaming service. You have a choice: do you follow the release dates, or do you dive into the chronological history of the Corvinus strain?
Most people mess this up. They jump into the prequel first because it’s "the beginning," but then the mystery of the original film is totally shot. It’s like eating dessert before the main course—it's still good, but you’ve ruined the surprise. Honestly, if you want the best experience, you've got to understand how these movies fit together.
The Release Order: How We Experienced the Chaos
If you want to watch the series exactly how it hit theaters, you're looking at a journey that starts in 2003 and ends in the "near future." This is the way most purists recommend because it preserves the twists.
- Underworld (2003): This is the hook. We meet Selene, a Death Dealer who’s essentially a high-tech vampire assassin. She’s hunting Lycans (werewolves) in a city that looks like it hasn’t seen the sun since the 19th century. Enter Michael Corvin, a human doctor who’s somehow the key to everything. This movie basically reinvented the "monsters with guns" genre.
- Underworld: Evolution (2006): Picking up literally seconds after the first movie ends, this sequel dives into the "Big Bad" elders, Marcus and William. It’s gorey, it’s fast, and it explains why the blue-tinted world is so obsessed with bloodlines.
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009): Surprise! No Kate Beckinsale (well, mostly). This is a prequel set in the Middle Ages. It tells the tragic backstory of Lucian and Sonja. It’s basically Romeo and Juliet, but with more fur and sunlight-induced execution.
- Underworld: Awakening (2012): We jump forward. Humans have figured out that vampires and werewolves exist, and—shocker—they aren't happy about it. Selene wakes up from a cryogenic sleep to find a world that's been "cleansed."
- Underworld: Blood Wars (2016): The final chapter (so far). Selene is a pariah, the Lycans have a new leader named Marius, and the vampire covens are as backstabbingly political as ever.
What most people get wrong about the prequel
You might think Rise of the Lycans is the logical place to start. It’s set in 1402, after all. But if you watch it first, the big reveal in the 2003 original about why the war started and who the real villains are? It’s gone. You already know the truth. It turns Selene’s discovery of the truth into a "well, duh" moment rather than a shocking betrayal.
The Chronological Order: Living the History
Okay, maybe you've seen them all and you want to feel the weight of centuries. This is for the die-hards. When you watch the underworld movies in order chronologically, the story changes from a mystery thriller into a sprawling historical epic.
- Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Set in 1402): You start with the enslavement of the Lycans. You see Lucian’s rise and the brutal choice Viktor makes regarding his own daughter.
- Underworld (Set in 2003): Hundreds of years pass. The war is now fought with silver nitrate bullets and UV rounds in the subways of Budapest.
- Underworld: Evolution (Set in 2006): The immediate fallout. The world is still blissfully unaware of the monsters among them, but the "gods" of this universe are waking up.
- Underworld: Awakening (Set in 2015): The "Purge" happens. The secret is out. This is the first time the series moves into a post-exposure world.
- Underworld: Blood Wars (Set in the Near Future): The timeline gets a bit fuzzy here, but it's clearly a few years after Awakening. Selene reaches her final form, essentially becoming a vampire goddess.
There is also a three-part anime called Underworld: Endless War that fills in the gaps between the 1890s and 2012. If you’re a completionist, you’d slot Parts I and II between Rise of the Lycans and the 2003 original. Part III fits right before Awakening.
The Lore: It’s All About the Blood
Why are we still talking about these movies? It’s not just the latex suits. It’s the Corvinus Strain.
Kevin Grevioux, who played the Lycan Raze and co-created the story, actually has a degree in microbiology. He wanted to move away from the "magic" or "curses" of traditional horror. In the Underworld universe, vampirism and lycanthropy are viruses.
Alexander Corvinus was the first immortal. He survived a plague, and his body mutated. He had three sons: Marcus (bitten by a bat, became a vampire), William (bitten by a wolf, became a werewolf), and a third son who stayed human but carried the immortal gene. That human line led to Michael Corvin.
This pseudo-scientific approach gave the films a weight that Twilight or Van Helsing lacked. It felt like these creatures could actually exist in the shadows of a modern city.
The Problem With the Prequels and Sequels
Let's be honest. The series has some issues. In Underworld: Evolution, we’re told Selene’s father built the prison for William Corvinus. But by the time we get to Blood Wars, the lore starts to feel a bit stretched. Characters disappear without explanation—like Scott Speedman’s Michael, whose absence in later films is handled via some pretty awkward body-double CGI and hand-waving plot points.
And then there's the blue tint. Every movie looks like it was filmed through a bottle of Gatorade Frost. It’s iconic, sure, but it also makes it hard to tell what’s happening during the fast-cut fight scenes.
Why Selene Still Matters
Kate Beckinsale’s Selene is one of the few female action leads from that era who wasn't just a "female version" of a male hero. She’s cold, she’s competent, and she’s deeply traumatized by a family she thought loved her.
Her arc from a loyal soldier (a "Death Dealer") to a revolutionary who breaks the very system she protected is genuinely compelling. She starts out hating Lycans with a blind rage, only to realize her "father" Viktor is a genocidal liar who murdered her real family.
That shift—from blind faith to absolute independence—is the spine of the whole franchise.
Practical Steps for Your Next Binge Watch
If you’re planning to tackle the series this weekend, don't just wing it.
- Start with the 2003 original (Extended Cut if you can find it). It has the best world-building and sets the tone.
- Watch Evolution immediately after. They are basically one long movie.
- Use Rise of the Lycans as a "flashback" movie. It provides the emotional context for why Viktor was such a monster.
- Treat Awakening and Blood Wars as a new era. The tone shifts significantly here as the world goes "sci-fi" rather than "gothic horror."
The Underworld series isn't going to win an Oscar, and it doesn't want to. It’s a stylish, lore-heavy, action-packed dive into a world where the monsters are just as flawed as the humans. Whether you watch them by release date or follow the thousand-year history of the Lycan rebellion, the story of Selene remains a staple of the genre.
Check your digital retailers or physical media collections for the "Legacy Collection," which usually bundles the first four films. If you're looking for Blood Wars, it's often sold separately or in the 5-movie 4K sets that finally fixed the crushed blacks in those dark, blue-tinted scenes.
Once you’ve got the order down, pay attention to the background details in the first film—especially the paintings in the mansion. They foreshadow the events of the prequel six years before it was ever made. It’s that kind of detail that keeps the fans coming back to the dark.