One of the earliest concepts for Netflix resident evil was to tie it in with the Milla Jovovich films of the same name – and that’s a plan it should have stuck with. To gamers and moviegoers, resident evil currently represents two different franchises. Capcom’s video games helped popularize survival horror, and while the fate of the series has been up and down, it has remained consistently popular for nearly 30 years. The films only loosely adapted the source material and instead followed an original protagonist named Alice (Milla Jovovich) in her zombie/monster hunting adventures.
Gamers may have largely disliked the resident evil movies, but they were hugely popular overseas, grossing more than $1.2 billion combined. Jovovich signed off as Alice after 2017 The last chapter, and rights holders Constantin Film have since rebooted twice. There was a 2021 movie Welcome to Raccoon Cityand that of 2022 resident evil by Netflix. Both were greeted with poor reviews, but Netflix’s outing was met with particularly vicious reception due to the teen drama’s fattening storyline and general lack of connection to the games. The series didn’t tie in with the Alice saga at all, but almost did.
Netflix’s Resident Evil should have connected to the movies
When it was first announced in 2019 on deadlinewas the loose plan for the series to continue from the resident evil movies. Reportedly, the Netflix show would be a post-apocalyptic adventure set in the same world as the Jovovich action movie forays, which would both expand the story and potentially leave the door open for Alice to appear. At this point, no showrunners were attached to the Netflix adaptation, while Netflix’s Constantin Film (via DWDL) to a resident evil show that could appeal to a younger female audience and increase the appeal of the property.
Over time, Netflix’s resident evil went from a movie spin-off to one that drew on the games. To accommodate Netflix’s request, it was decided that the show would have two timelines; one is set in the past with Wesker’s teenage daughters, and one in the shattered future after the T-Virus outbreak. Supernatural Andrew Dabb signed on as showrunner, but despite the good intentions, the series turned out to be undone by the confused goals. Resident Evils constant timeline hopping got annoying and it didn’t land on a consistent note. Despite good work from a talented cast and strong initial streaming numbers, Netflix canceled it after one season.
Would Milla Jovovich have returned as Alice?
Post-apocalypse zombie shows have already largely been knocked dry Walking dead, Z nation and many other programs, but the original version for resident evil could have been fun. The movies were always more cartoony and over the top than (most) games, so a spin-off about humanity recovering from the outbreak had potential. It could have solved the fate of main characters like Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield, introduced monsters that the movies missed (like Hunters or Regenerators), and embraced more of a horror tone.
Such a spin-off could also have seen Jovovich return as Alice. Since Resident Evil: The Final Chapter happy ending, the star has stated multiple times that she is open to returning. So while Alice may not have had a major (or any) role during Season 1, future series could have made her a prominent player. Maybe in the future, a resident evil there will be an adaptation that will satisfy both gamers and fans of the movies, but Netflix’s show wasn’t quite what they were looking for either.