Albert Wesker’s surprise return for Netflix’s Resident Evil series breaks a rule from the game series. The original Resident Evil was adapted from a screenplay by director Paul W.S. Anderson titled Undead. Anderson, who was a major fan of the Capcom series, decided to develop his own zombie script after learning that George A. Romero was attached to helm the Resident Evil movie adaptation in the late ’90s. Romero later departed the project, with Anderson tweaking his Undead screenplay to fit the franchise, which is why it didn’t adapt the first Resident Evil game.
While followers of the Resident Evil games largely hated the changes the Milla Jovovich fronted movies made, they were also hugely profitable. In total, Anderson’s Resident Evil series grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, with 2017’s The Final Chapter marking the end. In 2021, a movie reboot called Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City arrived, and while it was much more accurate to the source material, it also received a mixed response and was a box-office dud. The next live-action take on the saga is Netflix’s Resident Evil show, which is confirmed to take place in the same universe as the games.
According to showrunner Andrew Dabb in an EW interview, “The games are our backstory. Everything that happens in the games exists in this world.” While it was believed Netflix’s Resident Evil – which can correct a movie problem – was going to be separate from the games just like previous movies, this connection gives the show license to include other major characters from the saga. One returnee is Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick), who in the show is revealed to have two teen daughters named Billie and Jade. Of course, fans will recall Wesker died spectacularly in 2009’s Resident Evil 5, where he fell into a volcano and was then blown up with rockets. Wesker has remained dead in the games ever since, making his return for the Netflix show a major rule break.
In fact, shortly after Resident Evil 5’s release, franchise producer Masachika Kawata told a crowd at San Diego Comic-Con (via IGN) that “Even if you want Albert Wesker to come back, there’s no chance he’s coming back from that.” In the aforementioned EW conversation, Dabb confirmed that “I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say the explanation for why Wesker is the way that he is and how he is still alive go hand in hand.” Given that Albert Wesker is one of the most iconic villains of the series, it’s unlikely many will be upset at his return, even if Resident Evil 5 was supposed to be the absolute end of the villain.
In the years following his “death,” the games also introduced his son Jake Muller and “sister” Alex, but there has been little hint Albert Wesker himself would return. The series has crafted other memorable antagonists such as Resident Evil 8’s Alcina Dimitrescu, but it will be interesting to see Wesker’s big comeback – and how exactly his unlikely resurrection will be explained in Netflix’s Resident Evil.
