Here's the Best Order to Watch The Purge Franchise In
The Purge was never meant to become a franchise. In fact, the film was actually viewed as a massive risk by producer Brad Fuller, to the extent that he didn’t even tell his producing partner, Michael Bay, about the project until the movie was completed.
Fuller has shared the story in several interviews over the years and spoken of spending his days in the office before sneaking off to the set for night shoots. It was an exhausting time living a double life, but one that paid off after the film became a surprise hit.
It is easy to understand why The Purge, and its story of an evening during which society becomes lawless, captured audiences' imaginations. It is a fascinating concept that directly challenges the viewer to consider what they would do in the same circumstances. The idea has now been explored through five films so far, and whilst most will have watched them in the order that they were released, the franchise becomes far more intriguing when viewed in timeline order. Here’s how to do that.
Although the fourth film to be released in the Purge series, The First Purge is where the story begins. A prequel to the rest of the franchise, The First Purge takes place during the very first annual Purge event. How this night of lawless abandon came into being was a question that fans had routinely questioned prior to The First Purge’s release.
Set in the year 2016, The First Purge reveals that the combination of employment rates and a housing crisis has led to the new political party, New Founding Fathers of America, coming into power. Their first initiative is to trial an experiment in which, for 12 hours, all crimes can be committed without fear of repercussions. Rather than immediately go countrywide, this first event is confined to Staten Island, with residents offered large sums of money to stay. Getting paid to stay indoors for the night seems like easy money, but the organisation wants their new event to go nationwide and have some dastardly plans up their sleeves.
Watching The First Purge as the fourth film in the series still works to answer burning questions, but by starting the journey here, it is clear just how toxic the New Founding Fathers of America really are.
Forming the second chapter of a Purge marathon is the original Purge movie, which stars Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey, and is a fairly solid home invasion thriller that riffs heavily off of Funny Games.
Set in the year 2022 (which at the time of release was the near-future), The Purge opens with text that explains that since the onset of the annual Purge night, crime rates have reportedly dropped and unemployment is at just 1%. When viewed as the first movie, it sets the scene quite nicely, but watching it after The First Purge gives the viewer a little more perspective.
Unlike others in the series that take place across the city, The Purge hones in on the Sandin family with events transpiring within and just outside their home. One of the wealthier families, the Sandins have a state-of-the-art security system to ride out the Purge. However, after intervening with an intended Purge victim, the family find themselves tormented by a group of mask-wearing sadists.
After The Purge was a success, its sequel, The Purge: Anarchy, was rushed into production, releasing just a year later in 2014. This year gap is mirrored in Anarchy, which takes place in the year 2023.
The story follows clusters of characters as they try to survive the latest Purge night. Set across the streets of Los Angeles, the main thread focuses on a waitress and her daughter who find themselves outside during the crime spree. Eventually they cross paths with an anti-purge group who offer them safety. Anarchy also introduces the character of Sergeant Leo Barnes, played by Frank Grillo, who returns for the next film.
Despite what its title screams, the resulting film, although wilder, is far wobblier than its predecessor. The main hook is that it shows a broader range of purge events that are happening, a component missing from the self-contained The Purge. However, when watching in story order, the impact is lessened to a considerable degree.
Although there are only two years between the release of The Purge: Anarchy and The Purge: Election Year, within the universe of the latter movie, almost 20 years have passed.
The story jumps forward to the year 2040, which just so happens to be an election year. Up until now, the New Founding Fathers have been relatively unopposed, but the arrival of a new candidate ruffles their feathers. The candidate in question is Senator Charlie Roan, and her platform is built on the promise that she will end Purge night should she become president. This obviously paints a massive target on her back, but luckily she has the support of returning player Leo Barnes to help her survive.
At times, Election Year seems to retread territory from Anarchy, but the overtly political spin is what draws the viewer in. There’s also an interesting subplot based around the concept of murder tourists – people from other countries who enter America purely to live out their own criminal fantasies for one night. Originally conceived to be the end of the Purge story, this film adds some hope to the universe, although it is careful to not close off potential for more.
Those wondering what on Earth happened during that near 20-year gap between Anarchy and Election Year should check out The Purge series, which covers the years 2027 and 2036 across its two-season run of episodes.
A mixed-bag for most fans, the show is slower-paced than the films, with the first season jumping between a few different plotlines that eventually intersect. Starting in 2018 with its second season arriving roughly a year later, the series was eventually cancelled due to low ratings, but is worth trying out for those looking for an even more fleshed-out Purge-verse.
The final chapter in the Purge universe, at least so far, is The Forever Purge.
The events at the end of The Purge: Election Year sprinkled some much-yearned-for hope in the desperate fictional world, but sadly peace cannot last. Taking place in 2049, eight years after Election Year, the New Founding Fathers of America are once more back in charge of the country, and their first agenda point is to resurrect Purge night. However, members of one subset of Purgers – The Forever After Purge – decide to keep the crimewave going, long after the siren has sounded. The group are using the event as a way to ‘purify’ America as they wipe out the government, take whole cities hostage, and target both the rich and immigrants, though in reality no one is safe.
The Forever Purge seemed to tie events up in a more conclusive way to Election Year, with America now overrun with violence and US citizens fleeing to Mexico for sanctuary. For now, The Forever Purge is the last film in the series, and given the current climate of the world, which somehow feels closer than ever to hosting a real Purge night, it’ll likely be a while before we see another movie in this franchise.
