After just one season, Resident Evil has now been declared officially cancelled by Netflix. Why was the programme cancelled? Its review ratings, viewing trends, and production costs all pointed to a predetermined outcome. The recently released Netflix Original series Resident Evil was developed by Andrew Dabb and is based on the Capcom game of the same name. The same producers who brought you all of the Resident Evil films, Constantin Film and Moonlighting Films, are responsible for the series. It is merely one of many video game adaptations that Netflix is currently producing.
Albert Wesker and his daughters Jade and Billie relocate to New Raccoon City in the year 2022. Years later, it is discovered that the world has fallen victim to the t-virus, where mutant monsters and zombies prowl. Jade Wesker is now left to scour the globe for a cure in order to save the last survivors of humanity.
Just over a month and a half after the show’s debut, Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva revealed the show had been cancelled on behalf of Netflix in late August. Given the popularity of the franchise, there would always be a large audience for the programme, ensuring that Resident Evil would appear on many top ten lists across the world. The fact that many people began to watch, however, does not guarantee that they will continue to do so.
Resident Evil’s first weekend was very encouraging, garnering 72 million hours in just its first three days on the service. It maintained its second-place ranking for the week with 73 million viewers in week 2 (its first full week).
Week 3 is when things begin to look a little bleak, which is why we’re saying Resident Evil is now in danger. The number of viewing hours fell by 63% worldwide.
Critics and viewers have not been particularly complimentary in their reviews. Although reviews from critics were ultimately divided (53% on RottenTomatoes), viewers have been fairly outspoken about their distaste for the show thus far. It only has a 3.9/10 rating on IMDb as of August (up from 3.4 on the weekend of release) and a 26% rating on RottenTomatoes. For context, it should be noted that Netflix has a reputation for mistreating the source material when adapting anime or video games.