You’ve played the games have you seen the moviesand now Netflix brings you a new version of resident Evil unlike any you’ve seen before. The first trailer for the mysterious and highly anticipated show has just dropped and io9 spoke with showrunner Andrew Dabb about it.
The The eight-episode season debuts on July 14. and follows a woman named Jade (Ella Balinska) who struggles to survive in a world overrun by deadly zombies, creatures, and all manner of evil. It is 2036 but, 14 years earlier, she, her sister and his father Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) they were at ground zero in a place called New Raccoon City when the world basically ended. Told in both the past and the future simultaneously, take a look at the parallel carnage that unfolds in the new twist on Capcom’s video game franchise. Then, below, read more from the showrunner on what to expect from the show.
So what exactly is going on here? Well, io9 was among a group of journalists who spoke with showrunner Andrew Dabb earlier this week about the show and he broke it all down. First of all, where does this show fit into the overall story of resident Evil? It’s basically two sequels to every game in existence, one in 2022 and one in 2036.
“The games are the backstory,” Dabb said. “So everything that happened in the games happened in this world in the timeline it happened in.” So if something happened in a game released in 1998, like Raccoon City being bombed, in this world, that also happened in 1998.
So if the games are canon (up to and including the latest game, Village, which Dabb says plays no role here, but in his mind it’s happening far away, almost simultaneously with this story), but what about the movies? Dabb says the show is occasionally inspired by the Paul WS Anderson saga, but his vision of resident Evil it was more about showing fans times during a zombie apocalypse that we don’t usually see.
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“What we have seen a lot [in zombie movies] they are the days, the weeks and even the months that follow,” he said. “But what we haven’t seen much of is the lead-up because, you know, the movie usually starts when the zombies show up, right? It doesn’t really start before that. And then we haven’t seen what the world would look like when it has come to terms with what happened. Humanity is adaptable and we adapt to many things. We are literally adjusting to COVID right now. We would adapt to a zombie outbreak. It may not be pretty and it may not look like Los Angeles 2023, but we would do it.”
this being resident Evil although, they are not just zombies. There are plenty of deadly creatures, some of which are new and others that fans can instantly recognize from the trailer. However, Dabb didn’t want the show to be all about Easter eggs and nods to hardcore fans. He wanted a show that was true to the games, but also unique. In fact, he cited a very famous example of what he is looking for.
“[Fans] for something that feels like a natural extension of what they already enjoy. And I would say that the Marvel Universe does it very well,” Dabb said. “The majority [Marvel] The movies are not adapting a specific comic. They are borrowing here and there and building something new. That’s how we approach this. The games are canon and I’m sure we do make mistakes, but we don’t consciously violate any rules of the games. But at the same time, it’s not a direct adaptation of the games.”
However, if you are a fan of gaming, you may have a question at this point. Resident Evil follows the family of Albert Wesker, Reddick’s character, who dies spectacularly at the end of 2009 resident bad 5. Dabb knows that might not make sense yet.
“We are well aware that Albert Wesker was blown up into a volcano by a rocket launcher,” he said. “There’s a very good reason Wesker is back and it doesn’t come down to the fact that he was wearing lava-proof clothing and rocket launchers. So we’re very aware of that. It will be dealt with.”
Although not everything will be resolved. When asked if this eight-episode season is a complete story, he said it is in terms of these characters, but not the overall plot. The hope is to do more in the future, although that is a decision for Netflix going forward. For now, Dabb just hopes that people who watch this preview will see that he has a new, fresh, but also faithful take on a beloved franchise. Something that fans new and old will respond to.
“[Resident Evil] It is not, as I have seen online,’Riverdale with zombies’. Is a resident Evil show,” he said. “He has the blood and the guts and the gore and the monsters and the secrets and the betrayals and all that. And I hope people really respond to that.”
resident Evil debuts July 14th on Netflix and if you want to see more, we’re told there could be an Easter Egg in that trailer for fans to find…
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