Skip to main content

Two new teasers set the stage for Netflix’s Resident Evil

The Resident Evil franchise has spawned seven live-action films, a few anime movies, and even an animated series on Netflix. What’s left to explore nearly three decades after the first Resident Evil video game debuted? That’s the question to be answered by Netflix’s upcoming Resident Evil live-action series. It’s completely unconnected to every adaptation that came before it, and it has a modernized explanation about how the world went to Hell.

In the first of two teasers released today, Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) explains the benefits of the Umbrella Corporation’s wonder drug, Joy. Albert claims that Joy is “an antidepressant that cures OCD, lowers anxiety, and increases focus.” There’s just one major problem: Joy is made with the T-Virus, which turns humans into monstrous zombies. Not that Umbrella would ever let that get in the way of making a profit.

Resident Evil | Official Teaser #2 | Netflix

The second teaser trailer introduces Wesker’s daughter, Jade (Ella Balinska). Jade’s story unfolds across two time periods. In 2022, Jade and her sister, Billie, join their father at New Raccoon City, which looks like Umbrella’s take on an evil Google Campus. And in 2036, Jade finds herself all alone in London with the zombie apocalypse in full swing.

Resident Evil | Official Teaser | Netflix

Here’s the official description of the series, courtesy of Netflix:

“Year 2036 – 14 years after Joy caused so much pain, Jade Wesker fights for survival in a world overrun by the bloodthirsty infected and mind-shattering creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s chilling connections to the sinister Umbrella Corporation, but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie.”

Ella Balinska in Resident Evil.

Supernatural veteran Andrew Dabb is the showrunner for Resident Evil. The eight-episode first season will premiere on Netflix on July 14.

Editors' Recommendations

Blair Marnell
Blair Marnell has been an entertainment journalist for over 15 years. His bylines have appeared in Wizard Magazine, Geek…
Resident Evil review: Netflix series aims high, falls short
A hooded figure holding a bloody chainsaw stands amid prison cells in a scene from the Resident Evil series.

It can't be easy to be a fan of the Resident Evil franchise.

On one hand, you have a groundbreaking, generation-spanning Resident Evil game franchise with a rich (albeit wildly complicated) lore that shows no signs of slowing down. On the other hand, all of that popularity has spawned countless, low-quality spin-offs attempting to capitalize on the Resident Evil brand without channeling much (if any) of the franchise's appeal.

Read more
Wednesday, The Midnight Club, and more get Netflix teasers
Jenna Ortega as Wednesday.

Today marks the beginning of Netflix's Geeked Week, the annual virtual convention in which the streaming service offers fans a glimpse of its upcoming genre shows. The Sandman is perhaps the most anticipated of the new series. But the upcoming Addams Family spinoff, Wednesday, is also pretty high on our list. Modern scream queen Jenna Ortega is headlining the series as Wednesday Addams, who is now a teenager and ready to go out on her own adventures.

There's no footage from Wednesday in the first teaser trailer for the show. But we do get to see Ortega in costume as Wednesday, as well as an old friend of the family: Thing.

Read more
Enter the world of The Sandman in Netflix’s new trailer
Tom Sturridge as Morpheus stands with his back to the camera in an image from the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman.

In the late '80s and early '90s, writer Neil Gaiman and an assortment of artists collaborated on The Sandman comic book series, which helped redefine the medium for mature readers. It has taken the better part of three decades to bring this fantasy story to live-action, but the wait is almost over. Netflix has announced that the series will finally premiere this summer.

To go along with the news, Netflix dropped a new teaser trailer for the series which reveals how Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) was captured over a century ago. This was no small feat, since Morpheus is the King of Dreams and one of the Endless. Once Morpheus is freed, he finds himself somewhat unprepared for the mortal realm. And his own realm, the Dreaming, has been dying without his presence.

Read more