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Pearl is the second film in the X trilogy, a slasher horror series created by American filmmaker Ti West. The series, known for its brutal killings and bloodlust, is based on two characters, Pearl and Maxine, both played by British actress Mia Goth, who also co-wrote the films with West.
West's X series revives the classic slasher genre, reminiscent of cult classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Friday the 13th (1980). The first film, X, was released on March 18, 2022, and was commercially successful. With a good reception, Pearl was released six months later, on September 16, 2022, and also performed well at the box office. The final installment, MaXXXine, was released on July 5, 2024.
The X series can be confusing for viewers due to its non-linear timeline. While every film is connected, they can be watched as a standalone film. But if someone wants to understand West's X Universe deeply and have a thorough understanding of the entire timeline, we have listed down the sequential chronology of films in the X series.
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Pearl or X: Tia West's X series chronology explained
1) Pearl (2022)
Pearl is the second film in the trilogy and serves as a prequel to X. Set in 1918, Mia Goth plays a young woman named Pearl. She lives with her German immigrant family on a rural farm in Texas. Her father is a fragile, paralyzed old man, and her husband, Howard, is away fighting in World War I.
Her stern mother, Ruth, burdens her with all the family responsibilities and wants them to be cut out from the rest of the world. But the young girl has dreams of becoming a film star, which her family detests and despises as a failure. She soon starts sneaking into movies and develops an affair with a film projectionist.
Buried under the weight of her family and her future ambitions, she burst out into a fit of rage and madness. She starts killing her family members and close ones in the most brutal ways, dismembering their bodies, but her bloodlust just keeps on growing. Shortly after the release of X, it was announced that its prequel Pearl was already in production and was released on September 16, 2022.
2) X (2022)
X is the first film in the franchise, primarily shot in Fordell, New Zealand. The movie was a box office success and received positive reviews from audiences. Set in 1979, it follows a group of adult filmmakers, including the pornographic actress Maxine, who arrive at a rural farm in Texas for a shoot.
The farm from the previous movie is now owned by Pearl and her husband, Howard. They are now an elderly couple who have rented a guesthouse, particularly for the team. But none in the team have any idea of the grim trap they have stepped into. From the very beginning, Pearl has an unusual attention towards Maxine, as she looks the same as when she was young. Maxine tries to ignore these activities until she realizes that all the members of the team are gradually disappearing.
As Maxine discovers that the elderly couple is slaughtering them one by one, she must escape from the farm before she becomes the next prey. The ending reveals a surprising answer to why Maxine and Pearl have an uncanny resemblance, which directly connects this film to the previous. Announced in November 2020, X premiered on 18 March 2022 and was commercially successful, receiving positive reviews from critics.
3) MaXXXine (2024)
MaXXXine is the final film in the trilogy, released on June 5, 2024. It was a box office success, earning $ 21 million and becoming the most commercially successful movie in the trilogy. The film is a direct sequel to X, which is set in 1985, six years after the deadly incident.
Maxine has survived the bloodshed night and is now a popular actress in the adult film industry. But she has a dream of working for the films and starts giving several auditions. She eventually gets selected for the role of the protagonist in an upcoming horror film, The Puritan II. Still haunted by the past, Maxine moves to Los Angeles to fulfill her Hollywood dreams while working as a strip dancer to sustain herself.
During one of her shows, Maxine encounters a mysterious figure in leather who starts stalking her. The figure hands Maxine a VHS tape recording of the adult film that her dead friends were shooting six years ago. This makes her realize that the person knows a lot about her past, which could destroy her completely. She soon finds herself, diving back into the same dark past when the people around her start getting killed. Rather than Pearl, this time she is being targeted by the Night Stalker.
All three movies in the X trilogy are set in different decades, each telling their individual stories while narrating a century-old tale. The trilogy has gained massive commercial success despite being independently produced films. The series features a talented cast, including Jenna Ortega, Lily Collins, Britanny Snow, Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, and Bobby Cannavale.
Pearl is available for streaming on Netflix, while X can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV +. MaXXXine is available for rent or purchase on Amazon. Follow us for more chronological explanations of popular movie franchises.
