Everything To Know About Resident Evil Season 2

The universe of Resident Evil is a vast one. The franchise originally began as a 1996 Japanese video game, in which players had to traverse various locales (the first iteration focused on a mansion) and survive zombies and other mutated creatures. The game was a critical hit and highly influential for the horror genre writ large, and it eventually spawned many other games, several spin-offs and remakes, a film franchise starring Milla Jovovich, comic books, novels, and merchandise. It’s one of the highest-grossing horror franchises to ever exist, and now has another new entry: the Netflix series Resident Evil, which premiered July 14.

The Netflix series jumps between 2022 and “the present day” of 2036. Both timelines follow Jade (played by Ella Balinska and Tamara Smart), the daughter of Umbrella Corporation executive Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick), who’s a notorious video game villain. In 2022, Albert moves Jade and her half-twin sister, Billie (Adeline Rudolph and Siena Agudong), to New Raccoon City, from where he can continue working on a supposed miracle drug — which ultimately becomes a bioweapon called the T-virus. Meanwhile, in 2036, the T-virus has toppled civilization. Humans have been forced into walled-in cities, outside of which zombies roam. The only organization left on Earth is the Umbrella Corporation, and its employees are on the hunt for Jade.

The show was originally billed as just an eight-episode series, and Netflix has yet to announce if there will be a Resident Evil Season 2. Regardless, showrunner Andrew Dabb already has plans for more. “[We have] a lot of flexibility because we’re not married to the games. We’re not making a line-for-line or game-for-game adaptation on purpose,” Dabb explained to Bloody Disgusting in July 2022. The games serve as an inspiration, he said, and there’s a ton of material to pull from. “What I call Season 1 is Resident Evil 101. There are some zombies and some monsters, but we’re not into Uroboros, plant monster, or giant vampire territory yet,” he says. “But we’re going to get there,” he adds. “The idea is as we move forward, more elements from the games, both creatures and some legacy characters, will start to be incorporated.”

Here’s everything else we know so far about a potential Season 2.

Resident Evil Season 2 Premiere Date

After getting the green light in 2019 to begin production, the pandemic delayed the first season’s filming for several months. It finally debuted in July 2022. Netflix dramas typically take about a year to produce, so if the series is renewed soon, the earliest a sophomore season would premiere is likely July 2023.

Resident Evil Season 2 Cast

We can pretty much expect the main cast to return, which includes Ella Balinska and Tamara Smart as Jade, and Adeline Rudolph and Siena Agudong as Billie. And although it looked as if Albert Wesker perished in the bomb that destroyed the facility in 2022, he’s likely still alive given that the older, 2036 Billie told Jade that he had asked about her. So expect to see more Lance Reddick.

Other likely cameos include Paola Núñez as Evelyn Marcus, Anthony Oseyemi as Roth, and Ahad Raza Mir as Arjun.

Resident Evil Season 2 Plot

Spoilers ahead for Season 1. The Season 1 finale tees up multiple potential storylines for a sophomore season. Jade and Billie grew into adults as sworn enemies, and by 2036 Billie is hellbent on acquiring power. When she realizes that Jade and Arjun’s daughter, Bea, has some sort of power over zombies, she shoots Jade and kidnaps Bea. Season 1 ends with Jade clutching her wound, and it’s unclear if she’ll survive.

In 2022, Billie has been infected with the virus, making her unstable. In one of her terrors, she bites and kills Simon (Connor Gosatti), Jade’s love interest. Jade claims she forgives her, but it’s clear that resentment has taken root. Meanwhile, Albert supposedly sacrifices himself to destroy the plant. While doing so, he tells his clone, Bert, to protect his kids. In his last message to Jade before he is (seemingly) killed by the bomb, he gives her a note saying to find an “Ada Wong,” a popular assassin-for-hire from the games.

“The idea has always been, let’s spend Season 1 introducing you to some of these new characters so you can get to know them and see where they’re coming from. You can experience some of the Resident Evil lore through their eyes because a lot of people who are watching the show, they won’t necessarily play the games. They might not have even seen the movies. This might be their first exposure to Resident Evil, especially people who are a little bit younger,” Dabb told Decider in July 2022. “Now going into Season 2, let’s have some fun. And let’s start taking some more things from the games, more characters, and kind of putting them in the story.”

This post will be updated as more information about Resident Evil Season 2 becomes available.