Netflix has unveiled a teaser forResident Evil, the streamer’s upcoming series based on the iconic video game franchise. While there’s a new movie adaptation, Johannes Roberts’Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, that’s now playing in theaters, this new series will not be connected. It’s also unconnected to the prior movie series with Milla Jovovich, serving as a standalone series that’s also inspired by the games.
The new teaser doesn’t show us much, giving just a glimpse at a Cerberus. Gamers will know that this is the name given to dogs infected by the T-Virus in the originalResident Evilgames, a creature that has reappeared in many of the video game sequels as well as the various movie adaptations. It’s not much but it does have that certainResident Evilvibe to it that will have fans interested in seeing more from the Netflix show.
A little has previously been revealed about the creative direction of theResident Evilseries. We know that it will be following Albert Wesker, perhaps the most well-known villain of the franchise, as he betrayed the S.T.A.R.S. team in the very first game.Lance Reddick is playing Weskerin the series, and also serving as main characters will be his twin daughters, neither of whom appeared in the games. This suggests the show may be toeing the line between sticking with the source material and introducing new characters and original storylines, sitting somewhere in between Paul W.S. Anderson’sResident Evilmovies andResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.
Along with Lance Reddick, Netflix’sResident Evilstars Ella Balinska, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, Adeline Rudolph, and Paola Nunez. A synopsis for the series reads, “In the first timeline, fourteen-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker are moved to New Raccoon City. A manufactured, corporate town, forced on them right as adolescence is in full swing. Cut to the second timeline, well over a decade into the future: there are less than fifteen million people left on Earth. And more than six billion monsters — people and animals infected with the T-virus. Jade, now thirty, struggles to survive in this New World.”
“For the most part, the Albert Wesker that I’m playing is not the guy from the games,” Reddick said in an interview with Express.co.uk, clarifying that this isn’t a 100% faithful adaptation. “Rather, he is based on a guy from the games. Wesker seemed like he had a small role in one or two of the movies, so I came to the role without a backstory. I’m awake enough to know thatResident Evilis a huge propertyand so in that regard, I was really excited to interface with the fan base.”
Netflix has not set a release date for theResident Evilseries just yet, though it’s expected to arrive in 2022. Meanwhile, fans can watch the new movieResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citywhich is now playing in theaters. As thecritics haven’t been too kind, it’s unclear if that movie will be getting any sequels, much less the number that the prior series had.
