The new live-action Resident Evil series, which will serve as something of a reboot for the horror franchise, arrives on Netflix on July 14, it has been announced. The show stars Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker and Ella Balinska as his daughter Jade, fighting for survival 14 years after a deadly apocalypse.
The show will consist of eight one-hour episodes and be set in New Racoon City, to distinguish itself from previous entries in the franchise. The official synopsis is as follows; “Year 2036 – 14 years after a deadly virus caused a global apocalypse, Jade Wesker fights for survival in a world overrun by the blood-thirsty infected and insane creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s chilling connections to the Umbrella Corporation but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie.”
The franchise is showing no signs of slowing down, with recent movie Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, as well as an animated series called Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness already available on Netflix.
Netflix are likely to want to replicate the success of long-running apocalyptic show The Walking Dead, and perhaps serve as a rival to HBO’s upcoming big-budget TV version of The Last of Us. TV adaptations of videogames are all the rage at the moment – with Halo coming soon to Paramount Plus, and Prime Video adapting both Fallout and Mass Effect.
While the Resident Evil franchise has been a long-running one, it has seen mixed success since its debut in 2002, with Milla Jovovich leading the way. The first movie made $100 million at the box office, but almost every entry in the franchise has a “rotten” score on Rotten Tomatoes.
While we wait to find out if the Netflix series can reboot the fortunes of the horror franchise, check out our guide to the best zombie movies.