Cloverfield Timeline: How The Movies Connect

2028 Is Now Dominated By Giant Monsters

These Monsters Were Ripped Out Of Their Own Timeline

The events of The Cloverfield Paradox caused a butterfly effect across spacetime that had significant ramifications, not only in Stambler’s reality but in those adjacent to it too. The events of Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane are a direct result. History has been significantly altered, with the monsters in the preceding two movies arriving because of what happens in 2028. The third Cloverfield explained that this creates a causal feedback loop of sorts.

The horrifying creatures that started appearing earlier in the timeline spread and the interim decades were rewritten, which in turn means that Earth in the 2028 “present” of The Cloverfield Paradox is now dominated by multiple Cloverfield monster species. Giant is the optimum word for the Cloverfield Paradox Kaiju too — the creature at the end is tall enough for its shoulders to stick out above the clouds, making it significantly larger than what was seen in the 2008 film despite the similar design.

While this means the watching order can be a little confusing since the franchise technically both starts and ends with The CloverfieldParadox, it does highlight that interdimensional travel is not neat, clean, and deliberate — it’s violent, unpredictable, and often accidental. The Cloverfield Creatures are ripped out of their own time and space, which is folding over on itself like a wormhole.

They’re then brought into the setting of The Cloverfield Paradox, a powder keg of human conflict that is not prepared for the sudden appearance of a fully grown Godzilla-esque monster, among the potentially countless other monstrosities that are utterly decimating the Earth.

How Does 10 Cloverfield Lane Fit In?

The Second Cloverfield Movie Has Coincidental Connections Rather Than Clear Ones

Cloverfield and Paradox link together easily enough thanks to the monster, but 10 Cloverfield Lane doesn’t fit in quite as immediately — and some connections don’t make total sense. The aforementioned surname, Stambler, shared between the prophetic author in The Cloverfield Paradox and the paranoid survivalist in 10 Cloverfield Lanefeels more coincidence than anything else.

The same appears to be true of the presence of two bunkers. While Michael does wind up hiding out in a fallout bunker near the end of Paradox, and he does live in a similar location to where Howard’s doomsday shelter was based in the previous film, they’re clearly different locations (although it’s possible that’s a result of the interdimensional bleed and the “Peter” whose bunker Michael visits is an alt-universe Howard).

Therefore, how the Cloverfield movies connect is difficult to explain in this regard. However, a new Cloverfield film can still clarify 2016’s 10 Cloverfield Lane‘s place in the timeline a little better. It’s also clearly connected despite the links being a little less obvious than those between Cloverfield and Paradox.

It can be inferred that the sudden alien invasion in 10 Cloverfield Lane is a direct result of the interdimensional shenanigans caused by the particle accelerator in Paradox, and that the alien creatures are simply unseen during the events of 10 Cloverfield Lane. This also keeps it thematically in keeping with the franchise and its sense that humanity is always far closer to reality-shattering danger than it realizes.

The Cloverfield Offers Standalone Stories Within A Connected Saga

Audiences Can Enjoy These Movies Individually Or As A Larger Mystery To Explore

The Cloverfield movies are a film saga like few others, in that the audience’s perception of the series as a whole changes with each entry. The original Cloverfield is a straightforward monster movie with a found footage twist. Then, 10 Cloverfield Lane establishes the series as a Twilight Zone-esque anthology series comprising standalone stories. 2018’s The CloverfieldParadox then flips the franchise on its head once more, while telling its own, self-contained tale of cross-dimensional rifts, managing to unify the trilogy in a creative and provocative way.

To casual viewers, the Cloverfield movies can be viewed as separate entities. Even The CloverfieldParadox, for all its multiverse-building, is still its own beast. However, those invested in Cloverfield as a franchise can understand it as a story about a specific event and its ramifications. This is the most human element of the Cloverfield franchise by far, since the impact of the event has been explored from the perspective of clued-up 2028 scientists in The Cloverfield Paradox, unaware 2008 party-goers in Cloverfield, and 2010s doomsday-prepper types who think they understand but really don’t at all in 10 Cloverfield Lane.

What’s The Future Of The Cloverfield Franchise?

The Franchise Might Expand Further

Despite the huge gaps between the Cloverfield movies, the franchise lives on, even in 2024, as there is a new Cloverfield film on the horizon. Under Paramount’s guiding hands, Cloverfield 4 is currently in development. The franchise has certainly had its ups and downs in terms of viewership and critical acclaim. The first Cloverfield movie is certified “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, though the found-footage film barely scraped by with its audience score. 10 Cloverfield Lane outperformed its predecessor by a long shot, but The Cloverfield Paradox, on the other hand, was released on Netflix and earned negative reviews.

There’s little knowledge out there about how the new film will connect with the rest of the
Cloverfield
mythos, but there are rumors that it will be a direct sequel to the original
Cloverfield
movie.

Director Babak Anvari (Under the Shadow, I Came By, Wounds) will direct the fourth movie. Screenwriter Joe Barton (The Ritual, The Lazarus Project, Encounter) will be penning the script. In addition, famed director J.J. Abrams will be producing Cloverfield 4 through Bad Robot, with Hannah Minghella and John Cohen. In terms of producers, Bryan Burk, Matt Reeves (who directed the first movie), and Drew Goddard are all signed on to the project as executive producers.

There’s little knowledge out there about how the new film will connect with the rest of the Cloverfield mythos, but there are rumors that it will be a direct sequel to the original Cloverfield movie. So far, there have been no cast announcements, nor is there a Cloverfield 4/Cloverfield 2 (depending on the final title) release date. Hopefully, Cloverfield 4 will be able to redeem TheCloverfield Paradox, as despite being the link that connects Cloverfield to 10 Cloverfield Lane, it’s still arguably the weakest movie in the franchise.

How Cloverfield Became An Anthology Franchise

The Connected Movies Weren’t Originally Planned

Given the rather loose nature of the Cloverfield movies’ timelines, it might not be surprising to learn that it was not originally envisioned to be a connected universe of movies. In fact, had the original plans gone through, there might have been a much more conventional franchise following the first movie. In a recent interview with Matt Reeves (via Syfy), the director discussed original plans for making a sequel:

”
I think we were thinking that the three of us – me, J.J. and Drew – would do another one right then
.”

However, given the fast-paced careers each of those three men had following the success of Cloverfield, Reeves explained that they got pulled in different directions. Though Reeves spoke of an idea for Cloverfield 4 as a virus movie, he also discussed how much he enjoys that it has evolved into an anthology series of movies. He explains that 10 Cloverfield Lane:

“…
opened up this whole other lane that was really, really exciting. For me, it was always exciting to see what other filmmakers do
.”

Though it was not the original plan, this new approach to Cloverfield seems to excite fans as well as they wait for the next installment.

How To Watch The Cloverfield Movies In Order

The Release Order Provides The Most Impactful Viewing Experience

As the Cloverfield franchise is an anthology series, meaning that they don’t directly follow the events of their predecessors and are completely different stories with different characters, viewers can ultimately dip into any of them without having seen the previous films. TheCloverfieldParadox could be watched first as a cosmic horror flick just as the 2008 movie could be watched as a standalone found-footage movie.

The chronological order of the Cloverfield movies isn’t necessarily the order in which they have to be watched. However, without having watched them in order of release, viewers could be missing out on some jaw-dropping moments.

The final shot of The Cloverfield Paradox, in which Clover leaps out of the clouds, is undoubtedly shocking on its own. However, if The Cloverfield Paradox is the first Cloverfield movie viewers watch, that shot won’t be as exciting without the context of the 2008 movie. Though The Cloverfield Paradox is both a prequel and a sequel and can be viewed as a standalone movie, the experience will be most satisfying after watching Cloverfield first.

With 10 Cloverfield Lane being a great, standalone, isolated thriller, the sequel can be watched first or last and it doesn’t really matter, and the original Cloverfield monster doesn’t even appear.

Fans Still Want A Proper Sequel

A More Direct Continuation Could Save The Cloverfield Franchise

While there is a lot of excitement about the connections between the movies and it continues to be explored by fans, the original movie is still where most of the interest in the franchise comes from. As impressive as it is that a franchise was built off of the first movie with such small connections, for many people, the giant monster movie that was presented in Cloverfield was where they wanted the franchise to focus. More than 15 years after the original movie was released, there are many hoping for a direct follow-up to that story.

There have also been rumors for years of a second movie following a different group of survivors during the night of the initial attack.

While there have been a lot of Easter eggs and deep dives into the movie in the years since its release, the first Cloverfield movie presented a simple and hugely entertaining take on the monster movie with a brilliant found-footage component. While the franchise has wanted to explore other sci-fi subgenres since then, there is a lot left to explore with this story.

The first movie ended with the military bombing the remains of New York City in the hopes of killing the monster. However, the audio at the end of the movie reveals the monster is still alive. Seeing the aftermath of this and how the monster continues its destruction is something fans are eager to see. There have also been rumors for years of a second movie following a different group of survivors during the night of the initial attack.

There are a lot of questions introduced in the first movie that could be addressed in the sequel, such as the smaller parasite-like creatures that fall off of the larger monster and an explanation of what happens to Marlene after she is bitten by one. There is also the possibility that a direct sequel could feed into the other movies, perhaps with the introduction of the larger monsters seen at the end of The Cloverfield Paradox. With news of the franchise continuing, the Cloverfield universe may be ready to give fans what they have been waiting for.