Resident Evil spoilers follow.
Netflix had us standing under its umbrella for Andrew Dabb's live-action Resident Evil series. While the franchise was once remembered for the Milla Jovovich-led movies that tossed Capcom's games out of the window, 2022 has heralded two entries to the Resiverse thanks to the lacklustre Welcome to Racoon City movie and the eight-part Netflix series that's unrelated.
Dabb's show is a faithful adaptation of the source material, serving as a continuation of the games that takes place after Resident Evil Village – though sadly, there's no cameo from the notorious Lady Dimitrescu. Things came to a head in the (literally) explosive finale, with clones, crocodiles and casualties galore. So, what did you miss? Here's the Resident Evil ending explained and how it sets up season two.
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Splitting the story between 2022 and 2036, the focus of the finale was once again on Billie and Jade Wesker in their teenage and adult eras. In 2022, Jade is helped by Simon Marcus as they storm the Umbrella HQ at New Raccoon City to try and rescue Billie.
Also here are Albert Wesker and his clone, Bert. Fans wondered how Wesker survived his iconic volcano death in Resident Evil 5, but it turns out that before OG Wesker kicked the bucket, he'd developed three clones in the Arklay Mountains. The Wesker we follow in the series is an oddly sympathetic clone, Bert is a little unhinged, and Alby was killed in 2005.
After Billie succumbs to her zombie dog bite and the T-Virus adapts to her body, she accidentally bites Simon in a fit of rage. The villainous but brilliant Evelyn Marcus arrives on the scene and realises her son has been infected, putting a bullet in his head to save him the horrors of turning into a "Zero".
The survivors decide to destroy Umbrella's work, and there's a heartfelt exchange between Albert and Bert. Al says Bert deserves to live the life he never had and opts to stay behind to blow up the lab. Before sacrificing himself, Albert gives the girls a piece of paper and tells them to find "her". The big reveal comes at the end, when Jade unfolds it to find the name Ada Wong.
Those up on the games will know all about Ada. Wong, who is an antagonistic antihero working for an Umbrella offshoot called "the organization", was last seen during the events of Resident Evil 6, where she destroyed the lab of Dr Carla Radames and accepted a mystery job.
Ada was initially supposed to aid Ethan Winters in Village, however, the concept was cut. According to the Netflix series, Ada is currently in Japan, so that should give us a hint at where Bert, Billie, and Jade are heading next.
Also in 2022, we see an injured Evelyn being wheeled out of the destroyed lab. Given that we see her in 2036 as a mind-controlled puppet of Billie, it wasn't a shocker that she'd made it out of this one alive.
We're not sure what's going on with Evelyn in 2036, because unless she's had a lot of work done, she doesn't seem to have aged in 14 years. It's also unclear whether she survives in the future timeline. When Jade drops a pheromone to attract a horde of Zeroes to the makeshift Umbrella camp, we don't see whether Evelyn makes it out.
Billie solemnly warns that a lot of people are going to die and says "maybe you" to Evelyn before she leaves. Still, something tells us Paola Núñez will be back.
More lives are left on the line in 2036, when Jade is unable to shoot Billie. Her cold-hearted sister is a little less forgiving, and as Billie shoots Jade – leaving her for dead – the Umbrella puppet master also flies off with her daughter Bea.
Jade is left bleeding out as Billie escapes, but we're betting a mother's love and her hunt for Bea will be a driving force in season two. Speaking of which, it's implied that there's something special about Bea.
When The University released a giant mind-controlled zombie, it looked like Bea was a goner. Instead, the monster lay down next to her and tried to protect her before Umbrella blew it to pieces. Has Jade been experimenting on her own daughter, or does Bea have the same properties as Billie?
We know Jade has "bad" blood, but if Bea has the same ability to bond with the virus as her aunt, it would explain why Billie snatched her.
Finally, we're left asking how the world goes to hell between 2022 and 2036. Simon can't infect anyone because he's dead, and with the Umbrella lab destroyed we should be able to avoid another Raccoon City incident. Although it's possible that Billie goes on a biting spree in Japan, there's a tease of what was in Evelyn's tank.
The 2022 timeline ends with the creature's hand bursting from the rubble, meaning it'll likely be causing trouble in season two. There are plenty of theories on what this thing is, with possibilities being everything from a Tyrant variant to the reanimated corpse of James Marcus. The Umbrella co-founder was namedropped by both Wesker and Evelyn, so she could have been trying to bring daddy dearest back from the dead.
All in all, Dabb built on the already established lore of Resident Evil, while also taking things further. Alongside a cameo from OG Wesker in his shades, we also got Lisa Trevor as the Golgotha eyeball monster. Dabb has already told Decider that other iconic characters could appear further down the line, and the showrunner apparently has an actor in mind for Lady Dimitrescu.
The Ada reveal is a neat segue into at least a mention of Leon S Kennedy, while others like Chris and Claire Redfield could be primed to arrive with Jill Valentine. For the time being though, Resident Evil has shuffled back to the grave while we wait for news of a potential season two.
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Tom Chapman is a pop culture-loving writer and NCTJ-accredited Broadcast Journalist with over seven years of experience covering the small and silver screen.
Starting his career with a post at Movie Pilot in Berlin, Tom took on freelancing full-time with regular stints at Digital Spy, Screen Rant and Comic Book Resources.
These days, you can still find him covering all things Marvel and Star Wars at Digital Spy, while dipping his toe in bylines at Yahoo! and IGN.
Tom likes to think his spirit animal is a cross between Gale Weathers and Olenna Tyrell.
