Netflix's Resident Evil series should finally introduce one of the gaming franchises' most fearsome creatures. The Resident Evil movie series that ran from 2002 to 2017 lasted for six movies, which collectively grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide. This makes the Milla Jovovich-fronted saga the most successful video game to movie adaptations ever, which is a record they're likely to hold for a long time. This is all the more impressive for the fact the movies received, for the most part, terrible reviews.
Followers of the video game series were particularly disappointed, as the movies had little connection to the source material. They may have shared certain characters or monsters, but for the most part, Jovovich's Alice films followed their own narrative. Netflix's upcoming Resident Evil series will be following a similiar approach too. Game villain Albert Wesker (played by Lance Reddick) appears to be the only familiar character, with the series following him and his teen daughters Billie and Jade as they move to New Raccoon City. The show will cut between this present-day storyline to another set 14 years in the future, where the world has been overrun by the undead.
Netflix's Resident Evil series has been very coy in terms of promotion, with little in the way of trailers or images. While it's known that at least zombies and zombie dogs will appear, it's unknown if any other recognizable characters or monsters will appear. The show has the opportunity to bring some of the video game's classic roster of creatures into live-action. The Jovovich Alice movies featured the likes of the Lickers and Nemesis, but often just recycled monsters instead of introducing new ones. They also never included the Hunter creatures introduced in the original Resident Evil game, which is a mistake the Netflix show can rectify.
In the games, the Hunters were an animal-human hybrid engineered by Umbrella with incredible agility and strength. They were capable of decapitating players with one blow and could be tough to kill. Their blood-curdling screech and heavy footsteps were often enough to instill fear in players, but in later entries, the more iconic Lickers seemed to replace them. This was true of the movies too, where Lickers appeared in three of the Jovovich's saga and another turned up in 2021 reboot Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City.
The Hunters were even absent from the Resident Evil anime movies. Netflix's Resident Evil is in danger of alienating some series fans by being such a radical departure, but bringing in creatures like the Hunters or other favorites like the Regenerador - or even the instant icon that is Village's Alcina Dimitrescu - could go some way to quieting those complaints. The Hunters are still one of the franchise's most fearsome beasts and handled the correct way, could make for suitably nightmarish creations in live-action.