James Cameron’s Aliens is set 57 years after the events of Alien.
The time gap explains why Ellen Ripley has spent decades in suspended animation when the sequel begins. Ripley returns to Earth after drifting in space, only to learn that the colony on LV-426 has lost contact with the company. The sequel therefore treats Ripley as a survivor from a distant past rather than as someone returning soon after the first film.
The 57-year interval is part of Aliens’ opening setup and helps distinguish Cameron’s film from the 1979 original. It also creates the story’s emotional contrast: Ripley remembers the deadly creature, while the new expedition initially underestimates the danger.
A common mix-up is confusing the fictional chronology with the films’ release dates. Alien was released in 1979, while Aliens arrived in 1986, but the story itself advances by 57 years because of Ripley’s hypersleep.