If Netflix's Resident Evil show were to adapt one major game element, it could end up better than the live-action movie adaptations. The first live-action TV adaptation of Capcom's survival horror games hails from Supernatural alum Andrew Dabb and Constantin Film, the studio behind the Milla Jovovich films and recent movie reboot. Ella Balinska leads the cast of Resident Evil alongside Lance Reddick as Albert Wesker, Turlough Convery, Droxzyfps, Connor Gosatti, Lea Vivier, Paola Nuñez, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong and Adeline Rudolph.
The Resident Evil show is set across two timelines, beginning in 2022 and centering on teenage half-twins Jade and Billie as they move to New Raccoon City with their dad, Albert Wesker. The two slowly begin to learn of Wesker's dark experiments being conducted beneath the idyllic rebuilt town and of his sinister past with the Umbrella Corporation. The 2036 Resident Evil timeline will center on an older Jade as she's haunted by her past while fighting to survive in a post-apocalyptic world destroyed again by Umbrella's T-virus.
The various Resident Evil adaptations have seen a wide array of reactions from fans of the franchise, with many cautiously optimistic that Netflix's show can be better than the movies that have come before. While some appreciated the brainless thrills of Jovovich's movies, others better enjoyed the more faithful story of last year's movie reboot. Still, neither one has quite nailed the vision that most longtime players of the video games have for live-action adaptations. Though the upcoming show is set in the canon of the source material, there is one key game element that could make Netflix's Resident Evil better than the movies: its puzzles.
With the recent film adhering to the story of the first two games, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City saw a step toward adapting some of the iconic puzzles for the screen, namely with Tom Hopper's Wesker playing "Moonlight Sonata" in the Spencer Mansion to open a secret passage. The Jovovich-led films, however, largely strayed away from this iconic game element, even drifting away from the survival horror element somewhat shown in the first movie and turning toward largely convoluted and action-heavy storytelling. Though part of the enjoyment of solving Resident Evil puzzles is a player being the one to figure out the solution, there is recent precedent for how Netflix's show could adapt this game element in an entertaining fashion.
The recent Escape Room movies and their puzzle challenges are strong proof of how Netflix's Resident Evil could bring its own puzzles to life and therefore be better than the film adaptations. Much like a video game, the nature of an escape room is to allow players to be the ones to solve the various puzzles presented to them. With the Escape Room movies earning praise for their elaborate puzzles, the writers of Netflix's show could take a page from Escape Room's books to finally deliver some of the puzzles that helped people fall in love with Capcom's games.
It would also better fit the world of Netflix's Resident Evil show to adapt the puzzle game element over the movies, given showrunner Andrew Dabb has confirmed the show exists in the canon of the games. This could not only set up the Wesker twins to learn of their father's secrets via puzzles to hidden passages around New Raccoon City, but could also lead to the puzzles of the more recent Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Village, which Dabb has said could be explored in future seasons. Audiences will see if Netflix has learned the lessons of the movies when Resident Evil premieres on July 14.