Resident Evil Season 2 Getting Canceled?
Netflix's live-action Resident Evil might be succumbing to the cancelation virus before it even gets a season 2.
This article is more than 2 years old
The future of Netflix’s Resident Evil doesn’t look promising as the fate of season 2 hangs in the balance. Following its release in July, the latest adaptation of the Capcom video game become one of the platform’s worst-rated shows as it failed to impress casual viewers and die-hard fans. Now, with some of the lowest audience scores in history, the project is probably headed for the chopping block. To make matters worse, critics have not been kind to the series either as it currently holds a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Developed by Andrew Dabb, Resident Evil features a brand new story set across two timelines. In the first, 14-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker move to New Raccoon City – a manufactured, corporate town forced on them during adolescence. But the more time the siblings spend there, the more they come to realize that the town is more than it seems. The second timeline is set more than a decade into the future. There are less than 15 million people left on Earth and more than six billion T-virus monsters. Jade, who’s now 30 years old, struggles to survive in this New World, while the secrets from her past continue to haunt her.
Since the premise sounds very much in line with the Resident Evil plot, it wouldn’t be completely outrageous to assume the show experienced some level of racist review bombing. The series’ four leads are people of color, given that the decision was made to cast the normally caucasian Albert Wesker as Lance Reddick – who incidentally is the best part of the story. As there was a lot of noise surrounding the casting before its release, flat-out racism or unconscious bias can’t be ruled out as a possible contributing factor to the negative feedback.
However, as hard as it tries, the show is just not very good. Resident Evil fans were essentially left disappointed by an original story that only pays cursory attention to the source material. And it’s not even a fun blockbuster like the Milla Jovovich movies. Additionally, most people don’t love the idea of the beloved franchise trying to reinvent itself for a younger audience which is what the teen-focused main plotline tries to do. And since series renewals are largely dependent on viewership completion rates, the zombie-filled project is probably not going to get a second season.
Resident Evil’s imminent cancellation before a season 2 will be disappointing to the small percentage of viewers who did enjoy the show. Despite its flaws, the series features an ensemble cast led by Lance Reddick as the clones of Albert Wesker, Ella Balinska, and Adeline Rudolph as Wesker’s children, Tamara Smart and Siena Agudong as the daughters’ younger selves, and Paola Núñez as James Marcus’s daughter Evelyn. These talented actors would have been hoping to reprise their roles for season two.
Since its release in 1996, Resident Evil has become one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time. The game’s story follows Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, members of an elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S., as they investigate the outskirts of Raccoon City following the disappearance of their team members. But they soon become trapped in a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters.
