All 6 Movies & TV Shows In Gerard Butler's Has Fallen Franchise Explained

Published Sep 15, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

Mads Misasi is a part-time entertainment journalist and full-time marketing content creator. Before joining the ScreenRant team they wrote for TellTaleTV for 9 years working their way up from contributor to Associate Editor. TV has been a passion of theirs since a very young age. Mads typically watches all of the things, especially dramas and sitcoms.

Gerard Butler has built several action franchises throughout his career, but few have proven as unexpectedly durable as Has Fallen. What began with Butler defending the White House in 2013 has since grown well beyond the adventures of Secret Service agent Mike Banning.

The first three Has Fallen movies stayed firmly centered around Banning, repeatedly placing him between the United States president and increasingly elaborate terrorist threats. However, the franchise eventually found another way forward, expanding internationally with television stories following an entirely different collection of operatives.

With more than a decade of movies and television now behind it, Has Fallen has become considerably larger than its original trilogy suggests. From Mike Banning's first mission in Olympus Has Fallen to the expanding television story continuing with Shadow Has Fallen, the franchise has found several ways to keep its central action-thriller formula alive.

Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

The franchise began with Olympus Has Fallen, which introduced Gerard Butler as former presidential Secret Service agent Mike Banning. After previously being removed from President Benjamin Asher's detail, Banning finds himself unexpectedly becoming the president's best chance for survival when terrorists successfully seize control of the White House.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the movie essentially turns the White House into the setting for a Die Hard-style action thriller. Banning must work largely alone to rescue Asher, eliminate the attackers, and prevent a much larger national security disaster from unfolding.

Olympus Has Fallen also established many of the franchise's recurring faces. Aaron Eckhart plays President Asher, Angela Bassett plays Director of the Secret Service Lynn Jacobs, while Morgan Freeman appears as Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull, a character whose importance would continue growing throughout the next two films.

London Has Fallen (2016)

London Has Fallen dramatically expanded the scale of Mike Banning's problems. The death of the British prime minister brings President Asher and numerous other world leaders to London for the funeral, only for the gathering to become part of a coordinated terrorist attack.

Once again, Banning becomes the person standing between the president and almost certain death. However, the sequel abandons the confined White House setting of Olympus Has Fallen in favor of a sprawling chase across a devastated London as Banning tries to keep Asher alive.

Butler and Eckhart both returned, as did Morgan Freeman and Angela Bassett. Although the central relationship between Banning and Asher remained intact, London Has Fallen established that the franchise did not need to remain tied to Washington, D.C. — something its eventual television expansion would take much further.

Angel Has Fallen (2019)

\Angel Has Fallen changed the formula by making Mike Banning the person everyone believed was responsible for the latest attack. When an assassination attempt targets President Allan Trumbull, Banning is framed for the crime and forced to escape custody while searching for the people actually responsible.

Freeman's Trumbull had become president by the third movie, replacing Eckhart's Benjamin Asher. The shift allowed the franchise to explore Banning from another angle, particularly as his physical health and years of service began taking a greater toll on him.

A fourth film in the franchise starring Butler, Night Has Fallen, was announced in 2020, with Ric Roman Waugh set to direct. However, legal disputes and the entertainment industry strikes of 2023 stalled the project, and it is currently no longer in active development.

The movie also introduced Nick Nolte as Mike's estranged father, Clay Banning, giving the character considerably more family history than either previous installment. By the end, Banning clears his name and remains connected to Trumbull's administration, leaving plenty of room for another adventure.

Paris Has Fallen (2024)

Five years after Angel Has Fallen, the franchise finally returned, but Butler's Mike Banning wasn't leading the story. Paris Has Fallen instead became an eight-episode television series centered on French protection officer Vincent Taleb and MI6 operative Zara Taylor.

Vincent and Zara are forced together after an attack targeting the French Minister of Defense. Their investigation eventually reveals that terrorist Jacob Pearce's plans extend much further, while the possibility of a mole within the security services makes it increasingly difficult for either operative to know whom they can trust.

Tewfik Jallab and Ritu Arya lead the series as Vincent and Zara, respectively, while Sean Harris plays Pearce. Butler does not appear as Banning, but remains involved behind the scenes through G-Base, helping Paris Has Fallen establish an international television branch of the franchise.

Apollo Has Fallen (2026)

Rather than treating Paris Has Fallen as a one-off spinoff, the franchise continued Vincent and Zara's story with Apollo Has Fallen. Arya and Jallab return, making the television side of Has Fallen an ongoing story rather than an anthology built around different cities.

This time, a mission that begins with a hijacking pulls the pair into a conspiracy involving mercenaries and a deadly virus capable of devastating Europe. At the center of the threat is Yuri Mishkin, played by Jacek Koman, while Vincent and Zara must once again determine who around them can actually be trusted.

The eight-episode installment begins its international rollout in September 2026, with StudioCanal confirming Hulu as its U.S. home. As in Paris Has Fallen, Butler remains involved as an executive producer rather than returning onscreen as Mike Banning.

Shadow Has Fallen (In Production)

The television franchise isn't stopping with Apollo Has Fallen. Shadow Has Fallen has already entered production, once again bringing back Arya's Zara Taylor and Jallab's Vincent Taleb for the third installment of their ongoing story.

The six-episode season begins when Vincent and Zara extract British prisoner Miles, played by Game of Thrones and Misfits star Iwan Rheon, following an ambush in Mozambique. Miles possesses an untraceable cyber weapon capable of hijacking computerized systems, potentially threatening everything from financial institutions to military technology.

The new Has Fallen installment is filming in the United Kingdom and South Africa, with Brendan Coyle and Atandwa Kani also joining the cast. Shadow Has Fallen currently has no announced premiere date, but its production confirms the television branch has effectively become the franchise's most consistently active continuation.

Has Fallen