WARNING: MAJOR spoilers for Resident Evil season 1.
Netflix’s new Resident Evil show takes place over two timelines, one in 2022 and one in 2036 after the T-Virus has ravaged the world. In the 2022 timeline, Jade and Billie Wesker, the young twin daughters of Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) move to New Raccoon City in South Africa, a seemingly utopian company town where Umbrella’s headquarters are located. There, they meet Simon and, while both have trouble with the transition to a new school, they are also presented with some much bigger problems.
As Jade and Billie dig into their father’s mysterious past and Umbrella’s own shady dealings with the help of Simon, they end up uncovering much more than they ever bargained for. After Billie gets bit by a zombie dog, the trio must manage what seems to be an impending infection all the while uncovering a massive conspiracy that threatens to end the world.
Screen Rant sat down with Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, and Connor Gosatti to talk all things Resident Evil, including how that Doberman scene was filmed and what it was like stepping into the world of the iconic franchise. Gosatti also responds to his character’s fate at the end of season 1.
Screen Rant: Connor, what a bummer of a way to go out. Did you know ahead of time? What was your reaction when you found out?
Connor Gosatti: It’s funny actually. Sienna was the one to tell me about it because she had seen the whole script and I hadn’t yet and she asked, “Do you want to know what happens to you?” And I was like, yeah, tell me, tell me. She’s like, “You die.” And [then] she’s like, “And you get shot by your mom.” I mean, just couldn’t have thought of that in a million years so it was actually quite exciting for me when I heard. I was looking forward to getting to shoot that but yeah, obviously a bit of a bummer. But hey, life goes on… Not for Simon but…
Sienna, I feel like Billie has the toughest transition in New Raccoon City and then, on top of that, she gets bit in the first episode. Can you talk a little bit about what it was like filming the dog scene?
Sienna Agudong: There’s nothing that you can do to prepare for something like that. You can sit there all you like, listen to music or write, whatever you need. But you get there on set and then it’s a guy in a green suit who’s like pulling on you and it’s supposed to be this bloody, gory Doberman. But it was honestly really freaky because I was super nervous to shoot that scene. Obviously, that’s a huge Resident Evil scare. But that scene was Tamara and I. I think that was so fun to play off of. We barely had any time though. I do remember that.
Tamara Smart: Yeah, it was a night shoot. And we only had that place for a night. And we were very lucid and tired.
Tamara, Jade is headstrong, she’s bullish, she gets what she wants, even in the future. What was it like to dive into this role? Did you do some research into Resident Evil?
Tamara Smart: I did do a bit of research about Resident Evil. I watched people play the games and delved into the Wesker family and their legacy, but what I mainly went off of was the blueprint of her character in the script, and then kind of built off of that. I think it was really exciting for me to really just have this fresh, off-the-bat character who has been referred to before, but you don’t know her.
It’s really fun to add my own little twist to that, and it was so much fun to adapt to her and make her this really fiery girl who just knows what she wants, because I think it’s really different to what you would usually see in a horror thriller. And I think it kind of brings a comedic stance to the scary scenes as well, because she’s just like, “What the hell is going on right now?” And I kind of love that is really fun to play with that.
Both of your characters have their future counterparts and it was uncanny how similar you both were to them. Did you and Sienna work with the other actors?
Siena Agudong: We definitely tried to make time, but it was difficult on and off set because when we were working, they weren’t and vice versa. But we had the time to watch each other in the table reads. We both met with our older selves to just sit down and talk about the certain mannerisms that you share.
Tamara Smart: Yeah, I think for just the four of us, it was about finding that perfect balance and just that sprinkle of something that’s the same and just making it genuine and not like super repetitive. It was just keeping it real. And I think the way that we did that was by keeping a lot of similarities within our relationship in both timelines, which was really helpful.
Resident Evil Synopsis
Year 2036 – 14 years after the spread of Joy caused so much pain, Jade Wesker fights for survival in a world overrun by the blood-thirsty infected and mind-shattering creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s chilling connections to the sinister Umbrella Corporation but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie.
Check out our other interviews with Resident Evil stars Adeline Rudolph & Paola Núñez, Lance Reddick, and Ella Balinska, as well as composer Gregory Reveret and showrunner Andrew Dabb.
Resident Evil season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.
