The Definitive Michael Myers Movie Order: All 4 Timelines Explained (Updated 2024)

Are you ready to face The Shape? Navigating the Halloween film franchise can feel like wandering through the dark streets of Haddonfield, Illinois—confusing, terrifying, and full of dead ends. As of late 2024, the saga of Michael Myers spans 13 films, but only a handful of them are actually connected in a straight line. This complexity is due to the series having four distinct, competing timelines that ignore the events of previous sequels.

This ultimate guide cuts through the confusion, providing a clear, chronological viewing order for every single Michael Myers movie, from the 1978 original masterpiece to the conclusion of the recent Blumhouse trilogy, Halloween Ends (2022). We break down the four separate continuities so you can choose your perfect horror marathon and finally understand the terrifying persistence of the masked killer.

Michael Myers: The Man, The Mask, The Entity

Before diving into the timelines, it’s essential to know the key entities and players who define the entire franchise. Michael Myers, often referred to as The Shape, is the central figure, but his story is inextricably linked to a small cast of characters and locations that appear across multiple continuities.

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• Full Name: Michael Myers
• Nickname: The Shape
• First Appearance: Halloween (1978)
• Primary Nemesis: Dr. Samuel Loomis (portrayed by Donald Pleasence)
• Main Protagonist (The Final Girl): Laurie Strode (portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis)
• Primary Setting: Haddonfield, Illinois
• Institution of Confinement: Smith's Grove Sanitarium
• Signature Weapon: Kitchen Knife
• The Mask Origin: A modified William Shatner "Captain Kirk" mask from the 1970s.
• Total Films Featuring Michael Myers: 12 (Halloween III: Season of the Witch is the only exception).

The Four Major Michael Myers Timelines in Chronological Order

To watch all the Halloween movies featuring Michael Myers, you must choose one of four distinct paths. Each one starts with the 1978 original but then immediately branches off, retconning (retroactively changing) the events of the others.

1. The Original/Thorn Trilogy Timeline (The Cult of Thorn)

This is the longest and most convoluted continuity, running for six films. It introduces the controversial "Cult of Thorn" mythology to explain Michael Myers' supernatural immortality and his obsession with killing his family members. This timeline features Laurie Strode's daughter, Jamie Lloyd, as the new main protagonist after the first two films.

1. Halloween (1978): The original film introduces Michael Myers, who escapes Smith's Grove Sanitarium and stalks babysitter Laurie Strode in Haddonfield.
2. Halloween II (1981): This film picks up immediately after the first, revealing that Laurie Strode is Michael’s younger sister.
3. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988): Michael returns 10 years later to hunt Laurie's daughter, Jamie Lloyd. Laurie Strode is presumed dead.
4. Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989): Michael continues his pursuit of Jamie Lloyd and is revealed to be connected to her telepathically.
5. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995): This film fully introduces the "Curse of Thorn," a druidic cult that controls Michael, giving him his supernatural strength and driving him to kill his entire bloodline.
6. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998): (Timeline Split) This film ignores Halloween 4, 5, and 6, creating the second major timeline.

2. The H20/Resurrection Timeline (The Sisterhood Saga)

This timeline was created to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary and bring back Jamie Lee Curtis. It completely disregards the Cult of Thorn, the character of Jamie Lloyd, and the events of Halloween 4, 5, and 6. It keeps the core brother-sister relationship from Halloween II (1981) but gives Laurie Strode a chance to fight back.

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1. Halloween (1978)
2. Halloween II (1981)
3. Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998): Laurie Strode has faked her death and is now living as a headmistress in California. Michael tracks her down 20 years later.
4. Halloween: Resurrection (2002): This film follows the events of H20, concluding Laurie's story and introducing a reality TV show plot inside the Myers house.

3. The Rob Zombie Remake Timeline (The Brutal Reimagining)

Director Rob Zombie rebooted the franchise entirely with a new vision, focusing heavily on Michael Myers' troubled childhood and the white-trash environment of his family. These two films are a complete departure from the original series, featuring a much more brutal, grounded, and non-supernatural Michael Myers.

1. Halloween (2007): A remake of the 1978 original, focusing on Michael's time at Smith's Grove Sanitarium and the psychological breakdown that leads to his rampage.
2. Halloween II (2009): A sequel to the 2007 remake, which further explores the psychological trauma of Laurie Strode and the violent, animalistic nature of Michael.

4. The Blumhouse/David Gordon Green Trilogy (The H40 Retcon)

This is the most recent and commercially successful timeline, concluding in 2022. It is the cleanest break from the original films, as it completely disregards every sequel that came after the 1978 original. In this continuity, Michael Myers and Laurie Strode are not related, transforming their conflict from a family feud into a pure, decades-long battle between a survivor and pure evil.

1. Halloween (1978)
2. Halloween (2018): This film is a direct sequel to the 1978 original, ignoring all other films. It picks up 40 years later, with Laurie Strode as a paranoid survivalist preparing for Michael's inevitable return. It was a massive box office success, grossing over $255 million worldwide.
3. Halloween Kills (2021): Picking up immediately after the 2018 film, this movie shows the community of Haddonfield rising up to hunt Michael Myers.
4. Halloween Ends (2022): The final installment of this trilogy, which takes place four years after Halloween Kills and brings the decades-long war between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers to a definitive, albeit critically divisive, conclusion.

The Standalone Film: Why Michael Myers Isn't In It

The Halloween franchise includes one oddity that stands completely alone and does not feature Michael Myers. It was an attempt by original filmmakers John Carpenter and Debra Hill to turn the series into an anthology of different Halloween-themed horror stories.

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• Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982): This film has no connection to Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, or Dr. Loomis. It tells a story about a company selling deadly Halloween masks that are part of an ancient Celtic conspiracy involving Stonehenge. While a box office flop at the time, it has since become a cult classic for its unique premise.

The Deep Dive: Key Entities and Lore Explained

Understanding the lore behind the timelines provides a deeper appreciation for the franchise's enduring legacy. The constant retconning is a direct result of filmmakers trying to answer the question: Why is Michael Myers the way he is?

The Complex Relationship Between Michael Myers and Dr. Loomis

The dynamic between Michael Myers and his psychiatrist, Dr. Samuel Loomis (played by the late Donald Pleasence), is one of the franchise’s most compelling elements. Loomis is the only character who truly understands the nature of Michael’s evil, famously describing him as "purely and simply, evil." Across the original timeline, Loomis's life becomes an obsessive, single-minded quest to stop Michael, often blurring the lines of professional ethics. Michael, in turn, rarely seems interested in killing Loomis, suggesting a strange, co-dependent connection—Loomis is the only consistent figure in Michael's life after his parents' death.

The Cult of Thorn: The Supernatural Explanation

The "Thorn Trilogy" (Halloween 4, 5, and 6) attempted to give a definitive, supernatural explanation for Michael's nearly indestructible nature. The Cult of Thorn is an ancient druidic cult that marks a child with a curse—the Curse of Thorn—which compels them to kill their entire family on Samhain (Halloween night). This retcon was widely criticized by fans for over-explaining Michael's mystique, turning him from "The Shape" of pure, inexplicable evil into a mere pawn of a cult. The H20 and Blumhouse timelines were created specifically to erase this element and return Michael to his original, terrifying ambiguity.

The Legacy of Laurie Strode

Jamie Lee Curtis's character, Laurie Strode, is the heart of the franchise, and her story is the most frequently retconned. In the original timeline, she is Michael's sister, a connection that drives his pursuit. In the Blumhouse trilogy (2018-2022), this sibling connection is explicitly removed. The 2018 film establishes Laurie as a non-relative who was simply a victim of random fate in 1978. This change makes her 40-year trauma more personal and her final stand against Michael a battle of pure survivalist will against an unstoppable, motiveless killer. The success of the Blumhouse films, which collectively grossed nearly $500 million, proves that this simplified, focused narrative resonated strongly with modern audiences.