As some mourn the decision, Resident Evil Wesker actor Lance Reddick reacts to the show's cancellation. The John Wick actor starred in the Netflix adaptation of Capcom's video game franchise as Albert Wesker, the iconic antagonist who had previously met his canonical demise in Resident Evil 5. Wesker was explained to have returned via the creation of multiple clones of himself, one of whom would use a surrogate to conceive fraternal twins Billie and Jade.Resident Evil centered on Billie and Jade as they moved to the Umbrella-created New Raccoon City with Wesker as he resumed his secretive work with the malevolent pharmaceutical company. The Netflix show also explored Jade 14 years in the future as she tries to survive in the world nearly annihilated by the T-virus, with humanity now reduced to 300 million people around the globe, as she tries to find a cure to the virus. Despite debuting in the streamer's Top 10, Resident Evil would find itself canceled by Netflix after one season and now one star is sharing their thought on the decision.On the heels of Netflix announcing the news, Lance Reddick took to his Twitter to react to the Resident Evil show's cancellation. The Wesker actor shared his thanks to fans of the series in a video, as well as praising the work of his costars and the creative team behind the adaptation. See Reddick's reaction and video below:
I wanted to do this video because I wanted to do some acknowledgements and do some thank-yous. As all of you are well aware by now our show Resident Evil on Netflix has been canceled, and the haters and the trolls not withstanding, I want to give a special thank you to all the fans who watched the show, who got what we were doing and really loved it because there are a hell of a lot of you. I want to give a thank you to our fearless leaders, our showrunners Mary Leigh Sutton and Andrew Dabb, my cast mates and co-stars Ella Balinska, Sienna Agudong, Paola Núñez, Tamara Smart, Adeline Rudolph, Connor Gosatti. To the executives at Contantin, and our executive producer Colin Scully, and to the executives at Netflix, who believed in the show, really loved it and once again who got what we were doing. We worked our asses, we had a great time, and we made a hell of a show. Thank you. Onward and upward.
Netflix's decision to cancel Resident Evil after one season may not have come as much of a surprise to some given the largely divisive response to the Netflix show. While critics proved the most favorable of any Resident Evil adaptation, sitting at a 55 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences were overwhelmingly negative in their response to the show, with it currently sitting at a 27 percent approval rating on the review aggregate. Fans of the survival horror franchise have leveled a variety of complaints towards the show, including its teenage characters, explanation for Wesker's survival and large diversions from the source material.
Though some have welcomed the show's cancellation, Resident Evil Wesker actor Lance Reddick's reaction is sure to come as a bittersweet ode to those who did fall in love with the title. The cancellation did leave many disappointed at the various plot threads left unresolved, including the arrival of Ada Wong teased in the season 1 finale and a Tyrant escaping in the wake of the Umbrella headquarters' destruction. Audiences can revisit Netflix's Resident Evil streaming on Netflix now.
Source: Lance Reddick/Twitter