Watch: Resident Evil Netflix Series Trailer
Netflix has kicked off this year’s Geeked Week with a bang! There’s a little something for everyone, fans of all genres and niches, as the annual event gains momentum. Premiere dates for The Sandman and Umbrella Academy Season 3. An Adams Family spin-off from Tim Burton. And the first look at Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece. But it’s a different adapted series that’s turning heads for better or for worse: Resident Evil.
Netflix announced the project back in 2020, a television show with eight one-hour episodes. Then on May 12th, Netflix provided two teasers and a release date: July 12th, 2022. But it was only yesterday that they released the first full-length trailer of Resident Evil.
Neflix’s Resident Evil, What to Expect
Supernatural showrunner Andrew Dabb is head writer for the series and remains enthusiastic about the project. He’s a long-time fan of Resident Evil and confirms that every previous video game entry is canon to the television show, including the recent Resident Evil Village.
“The games are our backstory. Everything that happens in the games exists in this world. That includes the latest entry[…] We may not get there until season 5, but it is in our world. As we’re moving ahead and talking about scripts for season 2, the village is a resource we can draw on.”
Andrew Dabb, Interview with EW
This suggests that the series intends on tackling each game’s setting by the release date. Perhaps there’ll be a season in rural Spain, the setting of Resident Evil 4, that’ll coincide nicely with Capcom’s upcoming remaster of the original title.
This is a different approach from previous Resident Evil adaptations. The Milla Jovovich live-action movies were looser with its source material and panned by critics. But this time, Andrew Dabb stresses the game’s influence in his Netflix adaptation, especially concerning the inclusion of Wesker (played by Lance Reddick).
Fans can expect a sprawling plot from Netflix’s Resident Evil that occurs between two separate time periods: 2022 in New Raccoon City, and an apocalyptic, zombie-filled 2036. The show follows Jade and Billie, Wesker’s children, as they uncover the dark horrors of the infamous Umbrella Corporation. But it’s not really the story that divides the fandom, it’s the tone of the show.
The Tone of Netflix’s Resident Evil
Though Netflix’s RE is more concerned with the franchise’s history than previous adaptations, its emphasis on action-thriller may miss the point of Resident Evil entirely. The games provided a unique twist on the zombie genre with its use of isolation; each RE title secludes its players to a tightly-knit, diseased setting. From Spencer Mansion in the original, to the dark village of the latest entry, RE provides harrowing, focused experiences.
But a major plot point of the upcoming television show is its apocalyptic setting. This end-of-world trope is a common feature of zombie flicks, but not Resident Evil. Fans fear this could mark a return to the mind-numbing action of previous movies. And fun as those films could be, they struggled to satisfy the itch of RE players.
Can this new series faithfully adapt such an influential franchise? Will we finally see an end to the live-action curse? We’ll have to wait until July 12th, 2022, to truly say for ourselves.
But in the meantime, stay tuned, and for more Vendetta content, check out our shop!
