Netflix confirms its order for a Resident Evil live-action series, but leaks to the plot details made its way online in February.
The streaming platform announced Wednesday, Aug. 27, that the Resident Evil live-action will have eight full-hour episodes. Andrew Dabb, who wrote for Supernatural, will serve as showrunner and executive producer.
“Resident Evil is my favorite game of all time,” Dabb said in the press release confirming the series. “I’m incredibly excited to tell a new chapter in this amazing story and bring the first-ever Resident Evil series to Netflix members around the world,” the showrunner added. “For every type of Resident Evil fan, including those joining us for the first time, the series will be complete with a lot of old friends, and some things (bloodthirsty, insane things) people have never seen before.”
Plot leaked from Netflix’s site
The Resident Evil live-action series on Netflix will cover two timelines centering on Jade and Billie Wesker. In the first timeline, the 14-year-old twins move to New Raccoon City, where they experience dark anomalies that could threaten to destroy the world.
The second timeline happens nearly two decades later. Jade is 30 and living in a different world where there are more monsters than people. The monsters in this New World are former humans who became infected with the T-virus. As Jade tries to survive, her past and whatever happened to her sister, continue to haunt her life.
When the Wesker kids move to New Raccoon City, the secrets they uncover might just be the end of everything. Resident Evil, a new live action series based on Capcom’s legendary survival horror franchise, is coming to Netflix. pic.twitter.com/XWh5XYxklD
— Netflix Geeked (@NetflixGeeked) August 27, 2020
But according to Polygon, Netflix had the plot of the live-action on its website in February.
In the original synopsis, the show takes place some 26 years after the discovery of the T-virus. Two new settings will also be added, which are not in the games or the movie versions– Greenwood Asylum and Clearfield, Maryland.
Rebooting the movies, no ties to Netflix
Netflix tapped Bronwen Hughes to direct the first two episodes of the Resident Evil live-action series. Production, casting, and filming schedules are not yet finalized, and the streaming platform will likely have more about the show in the coming months.
Resident Evil is based on the video game series first released in 1996 by Capcom and spawned a franchise covering animated flicks, comic books, and theme parks. The property also had six live-action movies starring Milla Jovovich and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. The films ran in theaters from 2002 to 2017. There are also plans to reboot the movies, which isn’t connected to the Netflix production.
Image used courtesy of Resident Evil/YouTube