The Correct Order To Watch The Sharknado Movies

This post contains spoilers for the "Sharknado" franchise.

Why is the "Sharknado" franchise still culturally relevant? Well, for starters, the appeal of the stupidly entertaining combination of the words "shark" and "tornado" has come together to create a string of unforgettable movies with progressively ridiculous narratives. Moreover, all the "Sharknado" films are defined by a conscious "so bad that it's good" factor, with a deliberate bend towards schlocky exaggeration meant to be humorous and baffling.

The premise of the first "Sharknado" film is extremely simple: a tornado ravages Los Angeles, which floods the city, causing man-eating sharks to make their way into land. A group of survivors try their utmost to outlive this catastrophe, as they need to figure out a way to evade the sharks while steering clear of the aftereffects of the tornado. Even with this rather fat-fetched premise, this could have been a serious survival drama — thankfully, it is not, as we were gifted with brilliant lines of dialogue like "It is flooding here. Not the plumbing, but the ocean" instead.

Figuring out the correct watch order for the "Sharknado" films can be headache-inducing, as there are a couple of spin-offs that break release date continuity, while a few documentaries are also thrown in to expand the franchise for good measure. Although it is perfectly alright to watch any "Sharnado" film in isolation or out of order — there is hardly any urgent context to the phenomenon of sharks hounding people during a tornado, repeatedly — following a linear watch order allows one to understand the interconnected events better. So, without further ado, let's dive into it. 

Say what you will about the franchise, the original "Sharknado," released in 2013, possesses the perfect ingredients for a film that wears its ridiculous excess like a badge of honor. There is no logic to the events gripping our primary characters, who find a way to endure a long-running franchise despite being up against the same problems time and again. Surfer-turned-bartender Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and his wife April (Tara Reid) are not mere survivors here, as they do everything to save other helpless victims of the natural disaster, emerging as unlikely heroes amid the chaos. There are plenty of questionable CGI sharks (a distinct element that is replicated in every installment without fail) and even more questionable narrative choices, but "Sharknado" lives up to its cult status just because it is endlessly entertaining.

Follow up the original with 2014's "Sharknado 2: The Second One" (yep), where Fin and April briefly enjoy their time after surviving the disaster, having profited off it by writing a book about the sharknado incident. While they're on a plane, it is hit by a shiver of airborne sharks (?) and some of them even manage to enter the plane. Several people die, but Fin, being the courageous hero he is, successfully lands the plane after the pilots' deaths, only for fresh shenanigans to begin.

Next, pick up 2015's "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" which takes an even more baffling turn, where Fin is granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his heroism, only for this ceremony to be gatecrashed by sharks. A new entity named Fognado also seems to be lurking around, and the group decides to destroy the eye of the freshly-brewing tornado by traveling to outer space using a satellite laser weapon.

After watching "Sharknado 3," go ahead and watch "Lavalantula," a spin-off that hones in on another baffling environmental disaster in Los Angeles right after the events of the third film. Here, a series of volcanic eruptions are triggered (normal), causing a swarm of lava-breathing tarantulas to emerge and terrorize the poor citizens (not normal). There is even a spider queen who needs to be taken out with a makeshift bomb, and if this is too absurd for you, it is best to move straight on to "Sharknado: The 4th Awakens."

The title being a homage to "Star Wars: A Force Awakens," the fourth "Sharknado" flick starts with brief stability, as a new technology prevents the formation of sharknados and all adjacent freak disasters. However, the new technology is unable to thwart the rise of mutated "nados," namely lavanados and hailnados. At this point, it is a miracle that the citizens of the area are even able to go about their everyday lives, especially as they were hit with lava-breathing tarantulas just a few years back.

Time for another spin-off: this time, follow up with "2 Lava 2 Lantula" (no comment), where history inevitably repeats itself and the characters from "Lavalantula" return to save the day. This alarming rate of relentless disasters cannot be good for our planet, so naturally, the next "Sharnado" film to check out is "Sharknado 5: Global Swarming," where the planet is ravaged with no survivors except ... Fin. This is the perfect bridge to the final franchise flick, "The Last Sharknado: It's About Time," where Fin embarks on an Arthurian quest by traveling back in time and fights sharks during pivotal historical moments to prevent the catastrophe that started it all. All is well again and nature is healing. 

The madness does not end here, as there is yet another spin-off that acts as a culmination of all the monsters featured in films produced by The Asylum, titled "2025 Armageddon." Yes, giant man-eating sharks also make an appearance here, apparently mimicking the behavior of the ones in the "Sharknado" films, as this narrative is supposed to be a deliberate metacommentary of a world where these films are canon.

In case you wish to peek into behind-the-scenes commentary on the making of the film series, three documentaries can help you learn more: "Sharknado: Feeding Frenzy," "Sharknado: Heart of Sharkness," and "The Real Sharknado." While some of them map the history of the bonkers franchise, others follow the mockumentary route or talk about shark-related trivia.

There is also a comic book titled "Archie vs. Sharknado," published by Archie Comics as a tie-in to "Sharknado 3," where Riverdale falls victim to the sharknado phenomenon, and Archie and the gang have to find a way to survive the storm. Although the comic book deliberately replicates the comical excess of the franchise, it does not disappoint, as the baffling events tie in well with the structure of the worldbuilding, and fare infinitely better on the page when it comes to believability. If the "Sharknado" films are a bit too eccentric for you, it is best to grab this crossover one-shot comic and call it a day.