Typical: you wait a while for another live-action adaptation of Resident Evil, and two come along (almost) at once. Hot on the heels of the not-brilliantly-received reboot film Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City, Netflix is getting ready to debut its live-action streaming series once again based on the hugely popular horror game series – though this one is entirely unconnected to the aforementioned movie. A trio of posters for the show have just dropped, giving a stylish look at some pieces of biohazard-y materials courtesy of the shady Umbrella Corporation – and confirming that the show really isn’t far away, due to arrive on the streaming service on 14 July.
The series is being developed by showrunner Andrew Dabb, and will star The Wire legend Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker – an employee at the Umbrella Corporation. Needless to say, things in New Raccoon City don’t go swimmingly. The series will feature a dual-timeline, with the future segments starring Charlie’s Angels star Ella Balinska and Adeline Rudolph as Wesker’s adopted children Jade and Billie. Here’s the official logline: “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.”
So, will this attempt prove more compelling than previous attempts to adapt Resident Evil? Will it be more faithful to the games? And will it prove to be, er, a viral hit for Netflix? We’ll find out this summer.