You may have forgotten about the Resident Evil film franchise, but that isn’t stopping Constantin Film from rebooting the entire thing. While the previous six-film saga took extreme creative liberties with Capcom’s original property, this new version is set to be much more faithful to the video games that share its name. Oh, it also has a full cast because the project is farther along than we realized.
As revealed by Constantin today, Resident Evil will feature the likes of Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield, Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy, and Neal McDonough as William Birkin. All of those names will be familiar to fans of Resident Evil 1 and 2, which is likely what the basis for this film will be.
Director Johannes Roberts confirms that suspicion. “With this movie, I really wanted to go back to the original first two games and create the terrifying visceral experience I had when I first played them whilst at the same time, telling a grounded human story about a small dying American town that feels both relatable and relevant to today’s audiences.”
A short description mentions that the film will begin on a bleak night in 1998 in Raccoon City. This is where in the game series, STARS members Chris, Jill, Wesker, and Barry infiltrated the Spencer Mansion and had their lives changed forever. Sequel Resident Evil 2 ran concurrently with the first game but featued the events of Raccoon PD officer Leon and a young woman named Claire as they struggled to survive the heart of the outbreak in Raccoon City.
What remains to be seen is if this new film will tie-in with Netflix’s upcoming live-action series. It likely won’t be related to the separate animated series the streaming service has.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
