In case you haven’t heard yet, Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake is pretty darn good, capturing the essence of the original 1998 game but with a completely modernized control scheme and tremendous visual and audio design. If that’s not enough of the zombie franchise for you, though, Netflix is reportedly developing a television series based on the game.
According to Deadline, the television series doesn’t have a showrunner yet but is being produced by Constantin Film, which also produced the film series starring Milla Jovovich. It will be set inside the Umbrella Corporation and will examine the “new world order caused by the outbreak of the T-virus.”
Should this be true, then there is the potential for the series to deal with the earlier period in the game series, before it went off the rails with Resident Evil 5 and 6. However, if the films from Constantin are anything to go by, it’s possible the series will simply use the basic names and themes of the video games in order to produce an action show. The movies were never well received critically, though they have grossed over $1 billion thus far worldwide.
Resident Evil would be the second Capcom game to make the jump to Netflix. Ari Shankar, who also produced the Castlevania series, will be producing a Devil May Cry show. Castlevania has been critically acclaimed over its two seasons thus far, nailing the atmosphere and story of the classic video games without being limited by them. It will return for a third season, presumably tackling one of the other games now that the storyline of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is complete.
It’s unlikely that Constantin would switch from live-action to animation for the Resident Evil television series, but Capcom has had some success with this in the past. Three CG films based on the games have been produced, and they’re much more loyal to the source material than the live-action films. The last of these, Resident Evil: Vendetta, released back in 2017, and stars Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield.
Resident Evil 2 is now available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Check out our beginner’s guide for tips on how to survive Raccoon City.
