Netflix's Resident Evil movie series wasn't clear.
The property adopted an unusual approach by creating both a movie reboot and an unrelated TV series on Netflix. Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City merged the characters and storylines of the original two games together, and while the Netflix Resident Evil was somewhat canonical to the games, it largely told its own story. Welcome To Raccoon City arrived in late 2021 while Netflix's saga arrived in summer 2022. Both revivals received mixed to bad reviews and underperformed, but had they switched formats, they might have worked much better.
Welcome To Raccoon City Should Have Been A Netflix Show
On paper, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City sounded like a perfect reboot concept. The film was to take on more of a horror tone, it featured most of the iconic franchise characters and it was a two-for-the-price-of-one adaptation. Unfortunately, the film clearly didn't have the budget it needed to work, and having so many characters and subplots jammed into a tight runtime made it feel too rushed. None of the characters felt particularly fleshed out either, and cutting between the Spencer Mansion and RPD station undercut the tension of both storylines.
Instead, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City would have worked better as a limited series. Early episodes could have introduced both Raccoon City and the main cast - with rookie newcomer Leon (Avan Jogia) used as an audience avatar - before the mansion incident kicks off. Better yet, there could have been entire episodes devoted to either the Spencer Mansion or the police station, before both storylines started to converge.
Welcome To Raccoon City gave a cliff-notes version of the first two games, skipping over key events and monster encounters. The lack of classic monsters is a big problem with WTRC overall, as it reuses creatures that previously appeared in the Jovovich films, while Lisa Trevor is the only new addition of note. The film could have featured the Hunters, Plant 42 or even Mr. X, though it appears budget issues may have nixed early plans to feature a broader selection. In general, Welcome To Raccoon City's just needed more room to breathe than a film format allowed, whereas Netflix's series had the opposite issue.
Netflix's Resident Evil Series Didn't Need 8 Episodes
Netflix's Resident Evil blended a teen drama and a post-apocalyptic adventure with bits of franchise lore sprinkled in. Resident Evil received terrible reviews for the most part and was canceled after one season. Still, despite its flaws the show had its defenders for its wild retooling of the concept, and for the late, great Lance Reddick's multiple performances. Despite some big setpieces, the show's energy really peters out in later episodes, and the constant timeline hopping distracts from a lack of forward momentum. The series has moments where it works - like an outing devoted to abstract puzzle-solving - but it often feels padded out to reach its eight-episode order.
Netflix's Resident Evil itself may have been better served as a film, and one that cut out the filler of later episodes like the extended section on the ship in the 2036 timeline. Reportedly, Netflix pushed for the high school angle in an effort to broaden the series' appeal outside its core fanbase, but the teen angst of this section makes for a bad fit with the franchise's tone. That said, a movie version that mostly focused on the post-apocalypse while occasionally flashing back to the Wesker girl's origin could have made for a tighter experience.
Resident Evil's Multiple Reboots Confused Viewers
Having two live-action Resident Evil reboots release so close together presented a problem for both. With both projects going into production at roughly the same time, there was confusion - even among devotees of the property - over which was which. During an interview with the First Aid Spray podcast, the VFX supervisor for Netflix's Resident Evil Kevin Lingenfelser explained that photos from the set of Welcome To Raccoon City were often confused for the series, and vice versa. This ongoing confusion also extended to people being uncertain if the film and the TV series were going to connect somehow, or even if they connected to the Jovovich outings.
It likely didn't help the hype for Netflix's Resident Evil when Welcome To Raccoon City opened to lukewarm box office and reviews less than nine months before the series debuted. In essence, having two high-profile reboots launch so near one another canceled out the hype for both. It's a shame since both revivals had potential, and in hindsight, might have benefitted from swapping formats. There's a question mark over where the property could go next. A second season of the Netflix show definitely isn't happening, while a Welcome To Raccoon City sequel is possible, but looking doubtful.
Source: First Aid Spray Podcast
