Spoiler Alert: This article contains major spoilers for Netflix's Resident Evil series.
Netflix's the shooter survival horror Resident Evil introduced a cadre of horrific, T-Virus mutated villains for its protagonists to encounter. Many of these monsters, such as the Clicker, featured prominently in Netflix's Resident Evil marketing, with the new canon series delivering on its promise to feature a slew of classic Resident Evil zombies in its narrative.
Netflix's Resident Evil follows two distinct timelines. Its story is split between the present 2022 in New Raccoon City and the apocalyptic future of 2036, where humanity has been overrun by the infected. Both timelines focus on the Wesker siblings, Jade and Billie, and their respective fights to survive in an increasingly hellish landscape populated by nightmarish, zombified creatures.
Taking inspiration from every corner of the franchise to date, Resident Evil showcases no less than nine unique types of monstrosities. While most of the creatures seen in the new Netflix have roots in the early video game installments, the latest adaptation of Resident Evil also introduces a few new creature concepts as well. Here's a breakdown of every zombie and monster in Netflix's Resident Evil.
Zeroes
While "Zeroes" is a new term within the Resident Evil universe, the creatures it describes should be familiar to fans of the series and genre. These Zeroes are the iconic undead featured in every iteration of Resident Evil, although the Netflix series elaborates on their existence by suggesting that they are genetically changed by the T-Virus and not truly reanimated. While this is a significant deviation from the core Resident Evil timeline, these monsters provide the same scares that made the franchise famous.
Unlike in the video game series, Zeroes seem to be universally capable of great speed and agility. From their debut in Resident Evil episode 1, "Welcome to New Raccoon City," the zombies' new capabilities are put front and center as they chase Ella Balinska's Jade Wesker through a post-apocalyptic landscape. Since the Netflix show goes out of its way to separate the Zeroes from the traditional undead, there's a chance they may be dealt with in unique ways if Resident Evil returns for a second season.
Mother Zero
In Resident Evil episode 4, "The Turn," the Netflix series introduces one of its original creations. While many were certainly clamoring for their favorite Resident Evil monsters to debut in this series, Mother Zero is proven so essential to the future timeline in Netflix's Resident Evil that her inclusion over other creatures is justified. This distinct Zero has control over the undead horde imprisoned by The Brotherhood faction. After Jade Wesker dissects Mother, the survivor is able to weaponize the creature's pheromones against other Zeroes. Jade can then use the pheromone compound to render herself invisible to the monsters or to attract them to a specific point - meaning Mother Zero is essential to Jade's continued survival in the 2036 timeline.
Licker
Some of Resident Evil's most recognizable monsters appear in episode 3, "The Light." In one of the show's most intense sequences, a pack of Lickers ambushes Jade's party of refugees and the Umbrella soldiers who pursue them. These eyeless, skinless abominations make quick work of everyone snared by their claws or by their elongated prehensile tongues.
Unlike some of Resident Evil's poor translations of video game characters, this is an apparently unaltered adaptation of the same Lickers who appeared in 1998's Resident Evil 2. In the original lore, Lickers are the result of a second mutation provoked within existing zombies. Unless more is explained in Resident Evil's theoretical second season, any deviations in the origins of Netflix's Lickers will likely remain unknown for now.
Cerberus
Netflix's Resident Evil ends episode 1, "Welcome to New Raccoon City," by introducing perhaps the most iconic enemy from the 1996 Resident Evil video game. The mutated Doberman species, collectively referred to as Cerberus, attacks the teenage Jade and Billie Wesker. The same nail-biting tension that defined the original game becomes realized in Netflix's Resident Evil the moment Cerberus begins chasing the young leads through the halls of the Umbrella facility.
While Cerberus causes problems for much of the new Resident Evil cast, the dog is ultimately dispatched in the same episode. In the games, Cerberus were created as a byproduct of early Bio Organic Weapon (B.O.W.) experiments. In Netflix's Resident Evil show, however, the Doberman was one of several animals affected by Umbrella's testing of the T-Virus and the antidepressant drug named Joy.
Giant Caterpillar
While Jade is dealing with Cerberus in the present day timeline, 2036's Jade Wesker encounters a much larger T-Virus mutant unique to Netflix's Resident Evil. After Jade exterminates the immediate threat of Zeroes in Resident Evil episode 1, the resulting commotion attracts a subterranean Caterpillar. Just as it's about to kill Wesker, a group of Mad Max-like scavengers slay the gargantuan mutant and capture Jade instead.
This encounter is a more subtle Resident Evil video game flashback, as the Caterpillar takes inspiration from (but doesn't exactly replicate) a classic enemy. In Resident Evil 2, the player character comes face-to-face with a B.O.W. that resembles a Giant Moth. While this Moth's larval and cocoon stages are seen elsewhere in the series, the primary focus is on the final stage of the creature's lifespan and not on the Caterpillar itself in a subtle nod to Resident Evil 2.
Giant Spider
After escaping the Lickers in Resident Evil episode 3, Jade runs directly into a Giant Spider's nest - a mutation that is prevalent throughout the Resident Evil franchise. While this arachnid doesn't share any identifiable physical traits with Black Tiger, the spider boss from the original Resident Evil game, the creature's sharp claws and hunting behaviors do resemble the Drain Deimos from Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It would hardly be a surprise if the Deimos were a source of inspiration for Netflix's Giant Spider since Resident Evil 3 has been shaping the franchise's film adapatations for years.
Giant Alligator
Giant reptilians have been a staple in the horror series since Resident Evil 2. In the Resident Evil Netflix adaptation, the Giant Alligator is revealed at the end of episode 7, "Parasite." The slumbering beast is sedated thanks to Jade's prior experiments and waits to be activated by the engers of The University vessel, who can shock the Alligator back into consciousness and unleash it as a secret weapon of assured destruction. This mutant dwarfs his aforementioned video game counterparts and is even larger than the crocodilian monsters seen in Resident Evil 5. Despite his size, however, the Alligator proves far from indestructible by the end of Resident Evil episode 8, "Revelations."
Lisa Trevor
One of the best cameos in Netflix's Resident Evil appears in episode 5, "Home Movies." When Jade and Billie begin watching footage from the 1998 Raccoon City incident, they get a glimpse of Resident Evil HD's Lisa Trevor. Although the footage of Lisa is brief, she is a significant enough character from Resident Evil lore to still be impactful.
Lisa Trevor resulted from decades of viral experimentation inflicted at the hands of Oswell E. Spencer, William Birkin, and the original Albert Wesker. These experiments would lead to the mutation of Lisa, which she would hide under a disguise made of human skin, and the eventual formation of the T-Virus. Therefore, within the context of Netflix's Resident Evil, Lisa Trevor was one of the first unwilling patients to help refine the Joy antidepressant. In the original timeline, Lisa dies by the end of the first Resident Evil game - although her fate in Netflix's Resident Evil is yet to be determined.
Tyrant
The season finale of Resident Evil finally teases its greatest monster. First contained by a water tank, the clawed Tyrant has escaped captivity by the end of Resident Evil episode 8. While this monster most closely resembles the T-002 from the first Resident Evil game and the T-001 from 2002's Resident Evil 0, the identity of this creature is entirely unique to this Netflix adaptation.
Showrunner Andrew Dabb confirmed (via the recent Resident Evil backlash prevents season two from being commissioned, audiences have the rampage of this Tyrant to look forward to in the future.