Netflix Cans Resident Evil After Just 1 (Mostly Crap) Season!

Released last month, Netflix certainly attempted to build a fair bit of hype for its live-action adaptation of Resident Evil, and, overall, based on what we saw leading up to its launch, it genuinely looked somewhat decent. – When it finally landed, however, all most people seemed to find in it was disappointment. It’s not that it’s outright awful, it’s just so horrifically… mediocre.

It isn’t, therefore, any surprise to hear that in terms of viewer counts and overall popularity, the show wasn’t exactly a blockbuster. – Following a report via Eurogamer, however, it seems that Netflix’s Resident Evil has done so poorly that despite only effectively being released for a month, any plans for a second series have already been canned.

Yes, put simply, Resident Evil (on Netflix) is cancelled!

Netflix Cans Resident Evil After Just One Season!

If you haven’t watched it yet, don’t worry, I’m not planning to give away any spoilers and I entirely encourage you to watch it if you’d rather make your own mind up about it. Overall though, Netflix’s Resident Evil missed the mark in so many ways. Aside from the zombies, in fact, it’s actually hard for me to pick out any particular things they got right. Such problems, which are echoed by many, include:

• A complete detachment from the main franchise. – In fact, aside from the name ‘Wesker’ and ‘Umbrella’ it almost feels like this was a completely different script that got reworked into a ‘Resident Evil’ story
• It never really seemed to know what it wanted to be. It was more of an angsty teen drama than an actual, you know, zombie horror apocalypse – Not exactly an appealing angle for its key demographic
• The plot was more like a (really bad) fan-fiction than the work of a professional who both knew and understood the franchise and its fans

A Failure From the Start?

There are likely going to be a lot of reasons given as to why Resident Evil failed to attract an audience (likely involving gender and race). And, in this regard, I’m not touching that one with a barge pole! – Any way you look at it though, and for whatever reason, Resident Evil is set to represent Netflix’s latest major financial flop!

In terms of why it failed though, it’s a lot simpler for me than referencing social problems. Netflix’s Resident Evil was just bad. The actors were fine and did ok with what they had to work with, but ultimately this show was doomed from the moment the scripts were approved! – This project needed to be in the hands of someone who wanted to make a TV show about Resident Evil, and, ultimately, it seems clear that it was not!

This show offered practically zero fan service, and while too much can, in many instances, be an equally bad thing, a little does tend to go a long way with the people you’re supposedly making shows like this for!

What do you think though? Are you surprised it hasn’t been picked up for a second season? What do you think the show’s key failings were? – Let us know in the comments!