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The Purge movie timeline is almost as complicated as the horrific morals at its center. Based around the high-concept premise that all crime is legal for one night of the year across America, The Purge asks both how you would survive such a scenario and questions the political makeup that would enable such a horrific act.

Originally, the concept was more a mean to get to one of Blumhouse's classic home invasion plots, but as it's developed and grown writer/director/producer James DeMonaco has redefined the series to look more at the socio-political implications: why a government would really do this (clue: it's not about "unleashing the beast"), what would change around the world in the other 364 days, and just how close it may be to what's currently happening in America. He's also built a pretty coherent timeline of shocking events to boot.

From events now in our past through to disturbingly far into the future, here is the best timeline for The Purge that exists. For the most part, the movies have been consistent in dating (Halloween Easter Eggs aside), with most avoiding presenting an actual year and instead placing themselves in the continuity only in relation to other films. That means, while the technology in later installments may see antiquated (although that could also be a commentary on the backward society), things mostly line up.

BEFORE THE MOVIES: THE NEW FOUNDING FATHER OF AMERICA RISE

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The New Founding Fathers of America took office in 2014 in the wake of total economic collapse. The preceding specifics are never detailed but it presumably extends from the 2008 crash. Whatever happened, the United States was thrown into chaos and this new, alternate party rose from outside the traditional two-party system. But, while their victory heralded a new dawn, the NFFA were still faced with age-old problems. America was still in substantial debt, and not increasing taxes to keep the pinched lower classes happy would only increase that.

This was where the idea of removing parts of the population came in. The question was how to do it in a public-pleasing manner. Enter The Purge: a social experiment where all crime is made legal for 12 hours. Envisioned by The Architect (Marisa Tomei), it's an attempt to get America's inherent aggression out by extreme violence, although the NFFA see it as a way to manipulate the lowest (and most-expensive) rungs of society into destroying themselves.

The 28th Amendment is ratified in 2016, leading to a proto experimental Purge the next year. By this time, the NFFA needs some control measures to maintain their flimsy totalitarian rule.

THE FIRST PURGE - MARCH 21, 2017

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The First Purge takes place from 7pm March 21, 2017 to 7am March 22, 2017, localized entirely on Staten Island. In the build-up, residents are offered $5000 to stay in their home, and further bonuses for engaging in killing.

However, as a sociological experiment, the Purge fails: while some rogue citizens do engage in murder, the majority hole themselves up or party, at most committing petty crime. The NFFA had anticipated this and send in hired militia to ignite the powder keg, creating the illusion of mass purging and thus labeling the experiment a success. While various citizens - including the film's hero, Dmitri - are able to save themselves and loved ones from the attack, the government begins plans to roll it out nationwide, which they do on March 21, 2018.

THE PURGE BECOMES ACCEPTED - MARCH 21, 2022 (THE PURGE)

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By the time of The Purge - which is set in the fifth year of the national rollout - the event has become an accepted holiday, with much of the US infrastructure rebuilt to account for it: insurance, security and, yes, plotted murder. Many of the aspects of the first Purge have now become accepted traditions: parties and get-togethers are common among passive participants, those who approve of the holiday put the government-pushed blue flowers outside their houses, and the masks worn initially by the militia are adopted by the most violent of purgers.

Crucially, the class divide has already become clear. In the middle-class suburbs where the Sandins (played by Ethan Hawke and Lena Heady) live, the NFFA's fake ethics are tolerated and lightly indulged in, with the poor and homeless often the targets. The movie itself shows a group of upper-class purgers trying to break in the Sandins' house when they take in a vagrant they'd targeted, and later their jealous neighbors attempt to get revenge for the family's profiteering by way of security sales.

In this same year, a young Charlie Roan is forced to watch her family murdered, starting her life in political opposition to The Purge and NFFA. And here's where the people start to fight back...

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THE ANTI-PURGE RESISTANCE BEGINS - MARCH 21, 2023 (THE PURGE: ANARCHY)

By the next year, the propaganda machine is in overdrive, keen to highlight the repeated positive impact of the Purge. However, not all is as it seems. In The Purge: Anarchy, the NFFA have trucks patrolling the streets and killing citizens, attempting to boost the numbers and bloodlust just as they were doing in 2017. The Purge is not having the expected impact - likely in part to the test numbers being inflated - and so they're using the night as a cover for mass assassinations.

Alongside this shift, anti-Purge activists are on the rise. A resistance group led by Carmelo Johns (Michael K. Williams) and Dwayne (Edwin Hodge), the homeless man saved by the Sandins in the previous film, are beginning to fight back against the NFFA. They cross paths with Leo Barnes (Frank Grillo), a vengeful wannabe-Purger who winds up protecting multiple people trapped outside and eventually spares his potential victim's life, signaling a turning point.

THE PURGE TV SHOW - MARCH 21, 202X

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While not much is known about the content of the upcoming The Purge TV show, it's been said by the showrunners that it's set after the first two movies. DeMonaco said "if 20 Purges have taken place, or 15, we’re probably on the seventh or eighth in the TV show" placing it in 2024 or 2025, although that may be flexible.

THE FINAL PURGE - MARCH 21, 2040 (THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR)

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By the time the 25th Purge comes around (seen in The Purge: Election Year), the totalitarian regime set up by the NFFA is beginning to crumble. Charlie Roan (Elizabeth Mitchell) is now a senator and running for Presidency against on a major anti-Purge stance. The NFFA, recognizing their weakness, plot to have her kidnapped and sacrificed during their annual Purge service, but Charlie is helped by security chief Leo Barnes.

At the same time, Dwayne (now going by Dante Bishop) plots to use old, secret tunnels under Washington to kill the NFFA in their church: using what's left by the Old Founding Fathers to kill the new. Leo and Charlie convince him that violence isn't the way to stop violence, and so he leaves Edwidge Owens, the NFFA candidate, alive to be beaten in the election. Roan's first act is to repeal the 28th Amendment, stopping the Purge and ending the sordid chapter of American history.

Or does she? The end of Election Year hints that pro-Purge supporters are rioting and worse in reaction to Roan's victory, suggesting that the beast the NFFA has unleashed now lingers in the minds of many citizens

The First Purge/The Purge 4 (2018) release date: Jul 04, 2018