Inspired by the immensely popular video game series of the same name, Netflix’s Resident Evil live-action series has been cancelled a little over a month and a half after its debut reportedly due to lacklustre reception and viewership.
According to the weekly Netflix Top 10 rankings issued by the streaming service, in its debut week Resident Evil was streamed over 72 million hours, making it the number two program of the week (behind only Stranger Things Season 4 with 102 million hours). In its second
week, the show slumped to number three, and by its fourth week, it was out of the top 10 altogether.
The short-lived series, set 14 years after the outbreak of a deadly virus follows Jade Wesker’s (Ella Balinska) fight for survival during the ensuing global apocalypse as she attempts to traverse a world conquered by the infected. During this mayhem, Jade seeks to
uncover the true extent of her father’s (Lance Reddick) connection with the Umbrella Corporation, and learn what happened to her sister, Billie (Siena Agudong).
Additional cast members included: Tamara Smart, Adeline Rudolph, Paola Nuñez, Ahad Raza Mir, Connor Gosatti and Turlough Convery.
First released in 1996, Resident Evil has become one of the bestselling and most influential video game series ever created. The series has been adapted into most popular entertainment media ‒ It holds the Guinness World Record for the “Most Live-Action Film
Adaptations of a Video Game” with a total of seven. Furthermore, it has been adapted into animated films, comic books, novels, and plays, as well as animated and live-action TV series.
Despite numerous Resident Evil adaptations disappointing viewers, this latest incarnation of Capcom’s most successful intellectual property was received especially poorly by critics and audiences, with scores on Rotten Tomatoes of 55% (from critics) and 27% (from audiences).
Words by Luke Horwitz
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