How to Watch All of 'The Purge' Movies in Order, From 'The First Purge' to the Forever One
We untangled the Purge timeline so you can watch in release or chronological order.
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By now, you know the rules of The Purge even if you've never seen any of the movies: When it begins, laws suspend, and pretty much anything is legal and consequence-free for a 12-hour period. There are some tiny limitations to weaponry that can be used or who can be targeted, but, for the most part, anything goes. The reasoning behind it is that, if everyone is allowed to give in to their darkest impulses once a year, they won't feel the need to break laws the rest of the year. But is that actually what happens? And is the result enough to justify all the mayhem and murder that happens in those 12 hours?
To find out, you'll have to do a re-watch (or, for newbies, watch them for the very first time). Here's how to watch all of the The Purge movies in order. They're listed in order of release, but at the end there's suggestions for a chronological order. Check them out, but remember that laws actually still apply after you're done. Then, once you've Purged yourself — and thought of all the great Purge Halloween costumes to wear this October — you can move on and watch The Nightmare on Elm Street movies in order, the Child's Play movies in order or the Halloween movies in order.
The Purge (2013)
There have been so many permutations of The Purge, it's hard to remember that the first one had actual movie stars in it. The first film, which set the infamous rules of the Purge, stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Hedley as Jake and Mary Sandin, a well-to-do couple who just want to keep their family safe through the night. Things change, though, when they help an injured stranger — and then a gang of Purgers demand they give the stranger over to them, or else they'll invade the Sandin home to get him. When this came out, it was set in "the future" — 2022!
The Purge: Anarchy (2014)
It's one year after the Sandin's ordeal, and an anti-Purge movement has spring up around the country. (Which makes sense, since The Purge is obviously a bad idea.) When the sirens blare, Purgers and Anti-Purgers get locked in conflict, while a few people just trying to survive get caught in-between.
The Purge: Election Year (2016)
In this movie, the action jumps to the year 2040, when the anti-Purge movement has grown so large that a senator has decided to run for president using the ending of The Purge as a platform. Of course, come Purge night, that position puts her in the cross-hairs of those in power who want to see the carnage remain a yearly tradition. This movie contains a lot of what has become The Purge's most famous iconography, such as the creepy Uncle Sam costume, or the Statue of Liberty wearing a mask with light-up LED x-marks over the eyes.
The First Purge (2018)
Four movies into the series, you might be wondering how anyone was able to get such a horrible idea enacted in the first place. This prequel jumps back to 2014, when a pilot Purge program ran in Staten Island, New York. And, as all good prequels do, this movie reveals some information that makes you re-think the whole series.
The Purge TV series (2018)
It's not movie but, if you want to be a completist and understand every corner of The Purge, the USA Network ran The Purge television series for two seasons. Season 1 takes place in 2027 and Season 2 takes place five years after, which sets the show between Anarchy and Election Year. It follows a group of seemingly unrelated people in the year between Purges, dealing with the consequences of one while preparing for the next
The Forever Purge (2021)
What if the Purgers just won't stop when the end-of-Purge sirens blare? That's what happens in The Forever Purge, starting with a group of violent nationalists intent on killing anyone they deem to be "non-American." The action mostly follows a family of migrant ranch owners trying to get to Mexico, which has opened to refugees.
How to Watch 'The Purge' Movies in Chronological Order
With a prequel film smack in the middle of the series and a TV show that takes place between two previous films, The Purge does a fair share of timeline-hopping. If you want to set the timeline straight, watch them in this order:
- The First Purge (takes place in 2016)
- The Purge (takes place in 2022)
- The Purge: Anarchy (takes place in 2023)
- The Purge television series (starts off in 2027)
- The Purge: Election Year (takes place in 2040)
- The Forever Purge (takes place in 2048)
Marisa (she/her) has covered all things parenting, from the postpartum period through the empty nest, for Good Housekeeping since 2018; previously, she wrote about parents and families at Parents and Working Mother. She lives with her toy-collecting husband and daughter in Brooklyn, where she can be found helping out her team at bar trivia or posting about movies on Twitter and Bluesky.
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