Welcome back to the Resident Evil blog wherein I talk exclusively about Resident Evil and nothing else. I swear that I'm not going out of my way to look for these stories, they are literally just falling into my lap. That was very much the case with today's blog for which I've managed to get myself all hot and bothered over something that never usually grabs my fancy; a prospective Netflix series. The Witcher show tickled my a bit last year and the Tom Holland led Uncharted movie has me worried, (Uncharted is literally a video game version of Indiana Jones, what's the point of turning it back into a movie?) but a Resident Evil series is so far up my alley that it ain't even funny. I'm down for that prospect so badly that I'm about to start my withdrawal sweats soon if I don't get any information on this series.
As far as I can tell, this announcement was originally made by way of 'leak' on one of Netflix's sites. This was soon followed by an official announcement which was resplendent in vague-ries and now people are going back to that original leak in order to get some vague details to shift through. (People are still throwing the term 'Leak' to describe this entire show, but I believe that the show itself is confirmed.) The real thing which makes me giggle is the apparent fact that an establishing synopsis was published, taken down, and then recovered by the audience using the Wayback Machine. (I knew that domain would come in handy one day!) From all of this subterfuge around the title, I think it's fair to say that the project is likely still in early stages, maybe without a cast and full crew, but I hope the bevy of excitement this announcement has sparked has encouraged Netflix not to let this potential series pass them by. (Don't let this project enter the same development hell vortex that Uncharted is stuck in!)
The Metro covered the pertinent information succinctly, whilst simultaneously alerting me to the existence of a reboot for the Resident Evil movies coming down the line. (I am loving this revival of all things Resident Evil.) Most interesting off-the-bat is the news that this series will not be remaking any of the game's plots but will instead be taking a brand new story with, presumably, brand new characters. (Which is good because as far as I'm concerned Jordan Mcewen is Claire to me now, I will except no substitutes.) This series will take the form of a 8-episode limited series that will 'expand the Resident Evil Universe'. (I cannot adequately express how much warmth that statement fills me with.)
As for the specifics we learnt from the leaks, we actually have a full synopsis to chew over until things get serious for the production. Apparently this series will take place in a town called Clearfield, Maryland, which is a location that has never been explored before in Resident Evil. The synopsis also name-drops three notable landmarks around this town from Washington, D.C., the decommissioned Greenwood Asylum and, of course, the Umbrella Corporation. (I hear they're the area's biggest taxpayers.) Greenwood Asylum is similarly somewhere new for the franchise, but an abandoned insane asylum always makes great fodder for horror stories so I'm happy to sit and watch this play-out.
The next part of the synopsis is where I have to disagree with Metro, as the details read, "Today, twenty-six years after the discovery of the T-Virus, secrets held by the three will start to be revealed at the first signs of an outbreak." Now Micheal, the architect of this article, took this to mean that series would take place in the early 90's, and I can see why he would assume that. A quick google search will tell anyone that the T-Virus was technically developed in the late 1960's and the mention of 'first signs of the outbreak' would imply that this story takes place early on in the series. This would put this series at the earliest point of any game in the franchise as even Resident Evil 0 took place in 1996 less than one week before the first game.
Now I hate to be the nerdy one, but if we're being 'technical' then it would behove us to acknowledge two things; firstly that the T virus wasn't 'discovered' as much as it was created, and secondly how it wasn't known as the T virus until the events of Resident Evil 1. Fans of the franchise will definitely know how the Resident Evil franchise boasts a whole alphabet's worth of virus strains (Most of which don't even really turn folk into zombies) but the T-virus was not the original strain from which they all spread. (Actually, if we're being obnoxiously specific than we'd have to point out that the future variants actually spread from the G-Virus after it was stolen by, series asshole, Ada Wong. But that's neither here nor there.) The thing that we should remember is what we learnt about in Resident Evil 0, namely the existence of 'The Progenitor Virus.' (Which, from it's name alone, implies that it predated the T-virus.)
Bearing that in mind would mean that this series would actually take place 26 years from the creation of the first T-virus, (in the seventies) or perhaps the discovery of the T-virus to the general public, in 1996. Assuming it's the latter (because I think that would be more interesting) would place this new series 2 years into the future in 2022. Now, I understand why people would assume this series would take place in the 90's, afterall the last two games came out there; but they need to remember that those two titles are remakes and Capcom is hard at work trying to start a whole new narrative in the modern day. Simultaneously to working on the 'Resident Evil 3: Remake', Capcom is working on 'Resident Evil 8', and I personally feel like there's a lot more gaps for telling a story around the later games than there is for telling a story around the earlier ones. However, one would have to bear in mind that the Umbrella corporation doesn't quite exist in the modern day, so we'd have to interpret the synopsis as referring to the abandoned facilities of a former Umbrella laboratories. (There's mental gymnastics to be made either way.)
As you can probably tell by now, I love Resident Evil and will take any opportunity to ramble on about it, even if that's just to split hairs about a potential leak for a Netflix series. Given the ending of The Walking Dead, I'm all on-board for something new that'll hopefully avoid the long stretches of boring that the TWD series fell for. (Being an 8 part limited series will certainly help for that.) This is the thing I've been waiting for ever since I first heard about 'The Umbrella Chronicles' and learnt how that series wasn't connected to Resident Evil. (Yes, I know it's supposed to be a good show. I'm just still disappointed that it wasn't what I expected.) I'm positive that this franchise can make it on the silver screen (Without Milla Jovovich) and I can't wait for this show to prove that to the rest of the world. This is the sort of gaming-TV crossover that I want more of, not those redundant regresses like the impending 'Metal Gear Solid movie' and the aforementioned 'Uncharted project'. Here's to RE and the prospect of moving forward with storytelling, not backwards.
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