Netflix has worked up quite the reputation for itself by canceling so many shows after only one season, and the streaming service is now back at it again. This time Netflix has canceled Resident Evil, the horror show based on the popular video game series of the same name.
Resident Evil follows an outbreak that causes a worldwide apocalypse. The team of characters, led by Jade Wesker, work to take down the people that caused the infection. The show has a diverse cast of actors including Ella Balinska, Paola Núñez, and Lance Reddick.
The series was released a little over a month ago and, according to Deadline, debuted at No. 2 on the charts, with 72.7 million hours viewed. Despite some of the video game’s fans enjoying the Resident Evil show, it fell out of Netflix’s top ten just three weeks after its release. It also had a mere 55% score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 27% from the audience.
What’s really sad is Andrew Dabb, the showrunner of Resident Evil had long-term plans for the show. He previously explained to TV Line,
Whether that’s two seasons or three seasons or four seasons or five seasons, we’ll let the audience dictate to us. I will say that the deeper we get into it, the more story we’re finding as we bring in more elements from the games and expand these worlds and these characters.
With the show ending on a cliffhanger, it seems there sadly won’t be the beginning, middle and end Dabb was hoping for.
What really didn’t help Resident Evil was being released around the same time as Season 4 of the megahit Stranger Things. While everyone seemed to be watching the feature-length episodes of the staple Netflix show, the streamer’s newest series was neglected. Stranger Things broke a huge record in its first weekend by raking in 286,790,000 hours of viewing. Sadly, Resident Evil did not live up to the high standard set by other shows on the streaming service
Despite having some of the most popular genre content in the game, Netflix is canceling other shows left and right. It canceled First Kill around the same time Stranger Things got renewed for Season 5. The streamer also canceled The Midnight Gospel, but the showrunner surprisingly wasn’t mad about it.
Considering Andrew Dabb had a plan in place, it is sad to see Resident Evil end so soon. Luckily some of the cast already have plans lined up outside of the show. Paola Núñez will be in Netflix’s upcoming series Fall of the House of Usher as well as the Latin American film Fuga De Reinas.
If you are in need of a show to watch like Resident Evil, there is plenty of other zombie content to bridge the gap this cancelation created. Luckily, there will always be the video games the show is based on to return to and the previous Resident Evil movies.
