Netflix Announces Live-Action ‘Resident Evil’ Drama Picked Up To Series At The Streaming Service
Way back in January 2019, it was revealed that Netflix was working on a series based on the ‘Resident Evil‘ franchise. Today, the streaming service revealed that the show has been picked up to series, along with some more details about the setting for the drama.
The series comes from Andrew Dabb, co-showrunner on the brilliant ‘Supernatural’, and Constantin Film, who were behind the ‘Resident Evil’ movie franchise. The eight-episode tv drama will feature a brand new story, split across two different timelines.
The first timeline follows fourteen-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker who move to the manufactured, corporate town of New Raccoon City, right as adolescence is in full swing. But the more time they spend there, the more they come to realize that the town is more than it seems and their father may be concealing dark secrets… secrets that could destroy the world.
The second timeline moves the action to over a decade into the future, and things have taken a dark turn. 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, while the secrets from her past – about her sister, her father and herself – continue to haunt her.
“Resident Evil is my favourite game of all time,” commented Dabb, who serves as showrunner on the drama. “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. 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.”
Dabb serves as exec producer on the series alongside Robert Kulzer and Oliver Berben of Constantin Film and Mary Leah Sutton. Constantin Film CEO Martin Moszkowicz serves as producer. Bronwen Hughes (‘The Walking Dead’, ‘Better Call Saul’, ‘Berlin Station’) directs and exec produces the first two episodes.
German studio Constantin Film, who will serve as the studio on the tv drama, released the first ‘Resident Evil’ movie back in 2002. That was followed by ‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ in 2004, ‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ in 2007, ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ in 2010, ‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ in 2012, and lastly, ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ in 2016. Whilst video game movies are notorious for being box office flops, the ‘Resident Evil’ film franchise, all shepherded under the direction of Paul W.S. Anderson, has grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, becoming the most profitable game-to-film franchise ever made.
We don’t know exactly when the ‘Resident Evil‘ tv series will premiere on Netflix (although it won’t be until at least 2021), but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
