The battle against the contagion in Resident Evil has been halted by Netflix.
Deadline reports that Resident Evil has been cancelled by Netflix after a single season, one that was widely derided by Resident Evil fans. The fans’ response to the series correlates to the series not having strong Netflix Top 10 ratings, and according to Deadline, the poor ratings plus the production costs led to the decision to put an axe in the project.
With that said, the series did earn 72.7 million viewers in its first week.
But that number is considered mediocre by Netflix metrics, and the series didn’t earn any second week bump. After three weeks, the series dropped off the Top 10 altogether.
When the series was being promoted this summer, it was marketed as being able “to bring the best of the Resident Evil universe into something wholly new and original while retaining what has made the franchise what it is today.” Clearly, that wasn’t delivered. But the series did boast the casting of genre favorite Lance Riddick to play franchise character Albert Wesker. The series also starred Ella Balinska, Tamara Smart, Siena Agudong, Adeline Rudolph, Paola Nuñez, Ahad Raza Mir, Connor Gossatti, and Turlough Convery.
The series was set 14 years after a virus overtook the world, leaving some ingenious people in Racoon City left to try to save the planet.
According to the official synopsis:
Year 2036 – 14 years after a deadly virus caused a global apocalypse, Jade Wesker fights for survival in a world overrun by the blood-thirsty infected and insane creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s chilling connections to the Umbrella Corporation but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie.