Anna Todd’s After franchise turned heads from the moment its first book was published. What started out as Harry Styles fanfiction posted on Wattpad, an old yet popular reading platform, soon became a phenomenon, reaching the status of the most-read story on the website. Published novels and movie adaptations came right after, all successful within the target audience, but much less appreciated by critics. Even so, it’s not the first time fanfiction makes its way out of the confinement of fandom spaces — 50 Shades of Grey being another example — and it likely won’t be the last.
The franchise follows Tessa (Josephine Langford) and Hardin’s (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) tale of chaotic, passionate romance, as the two make their way to each other time and again. The story portrays the classic trope of a good, quiet girl, who falls for the bad boy, provoking a 180-degree turn in her life. If you’d like to know what the fuss is about and judge whether the After movies deserve their success, it’s best that you watch them in order. Currently, there are four movies in the franchise and each installment builds up on the events of its predecessor. This means that it’s best to watch the movies by release order, as it coincides with the narrative’s chronology.
After watch order
- After (2019)
- After We Collided (2020)
- After We Fell (2021)
- After Ever Happy (2022)
- After Everything (2023)
While this is a very straightforward watch list, things are bound to change down the road. According to Teen Vogue, a prequel film to the franchise is also in the works, based on Anna Todd’s 2016 book, Before. Following that, there are plans to continue After by introducing a new generation of characters to the franchise.