Anyone who’s ever watched Supernatural knows that Sam and Dean Winchester’s unbreakable bond was the heart of that series. The brothers didn’t always get along, but they still fought tooth and nail for each other, regardless of the consequences.
Netflix’s Resident Evil series, arriving this Thursday, also grounds itself in a complicated sibling dynamic with Jade and Billie Wesker, the twin daughters of maniacal scientist Albert Wesker (played by Bosch’s Lance Reddick), at the forefront of the story. Showrunner Andrew Dabb (who previously served as the showrunner for Supernatural) acknowledges that the twins’ relationship shares some similarities with the Winchesters’ — “They’re both going through these very traumatic events together” — but notes that their dynamic is also very different.
“When you have an older sibling/younger sibling, one of them is kind of a surrogate parent. With twins, you’re on equal footing,” Dabb tells TVLine. “The power struggle is even more dynamic because one day it’s the one twin, and one day it’s the other twin, but age doesn’t really factor into it.”
Dabb adds that “it was very important to me, when we started talking about Resident Evil, to dig down to what Resident Evil is actually all about. If you dig down through the monsters and the zombies and the crazy stuff, it’s about family. Whether you’re talking about the Redfields or Albert Wesker’s very eccentric family or the Birkins, there’s a really strong family foundation to Resident Evil. Obviously, I was a fan of the games and the movies, but once I sat down and really thought about it, I was like, ‘Oh, I understand how to make these characters feel real, versus making them feel like characters in an apocalypse.’”
The series takes place in two different timelines: 2022, during which Albert and his daughters have just moved to New Raccoon City while he develops a pharmaceutical drug called Joy, and 2036, which is 14 years after that drug containing the T-virus ravaged the planet and turned most of its inhabitants into zombies. Across eight hour-long episodes, the show mostly sticks to its own contained story but still recognizes the previously released video games (including 2021’s Resident Evil Village) as canon.
“All the games that have come out today, [from] the first game to Village, are the backstory of our show,” Dabb explains. “So Raccoon City got nuked. In Eastern Europe, there was a giant vampire lady [aka Lady Dimitrescu]. That’s all in our world.”
But as the games go in one direction, the show will take another path “because we’re producing, hopefully, a show every 18 months or so, and the games take a little bit longer to ramp into production… We made the choice [in Season 1] to just touch the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the game lore. If we’re lucky enough to go into Season 2 and beyond, you’ll start to see a lot more game elements coming into the show.”
When it comes to Resident Evil’s longevity, Dabb is aiming big. “My last show went 15 seasons, so I think this one should go at least 16,” he quips.
But on a serious note, the showrunner has mapped out a beginning, middle and end to the story. “Whether that’s two seasons or three seasons or four seasons or five seasons, we’ll let the audience dictate to us,” he shares. “I will say that the deeper we get into it, the more story we’re finding as we bring in more elements from the games and expand these worlds and these characters.”
Are you looking forward to Netflix’s Resident Evil series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.