Alien is a British-American science-fiction horror media franchise centered on the film series depicting Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver) and her battles with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien", and depicting android David 8 (portrayed by Michael Fassbender) and his experimentation in creating said lifeform. 　　Produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox, the series began with Alien (1979), directed by Ridley Scott. It was followed by three sequels, Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), and Alien Resurrection (1997). Scott also directed a prequel series, composed of Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). 　　The series has led to numerous books, comics, and video game spin-offs. The Alien vs. Predator franchise combines the continuities of the Alien franchise with the Predator franchise, and consists of two films as well as varying series of comics, books and video games.