Netflix‘s Resident Evil series (review) has caused quite the stir among fans and non-fans alike. Debuting to mixed reviews from critics and sporting one of Netflix’s lowest audience scores to date, the series has seen no shortage of debate among viewers, ranging from who the target audience is, how it should balance the horror, action and comedy, and what makes Resident Evil, well, Resident Evil. The answer to that last question has many answers, as the franchise has dipped its toes in so many different genres (and tones) over the past two decades.
In a rather interesting choice, Netflix’s Resident Evil treats all of the games as canon, essentially making the plot of the series Resident Evil 9. Now, one would think that a TV show acting as a continuation of 26 years worth of game lore would be a massive hurdle for newcomers, but Resident Evil does a remarkably effective job of having very few barriers to entry for Resident Evil virgins while also being a compelling and interesting story for franchise fans.
Series creator and showrunner Andrew Dabb is a noted fan of the games, but unlike last year’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which prioritized game references and Easter Eggs over a coherent story or energetic filmmaking, Netflix’s series somehow works on both fronts, acting as an Easter Egg-filled treasure trove for fans without sacrificing the basic elements of filmmaking required to make a semi-decent final product (or using “this one’s for the fans” as a defense for poor storytelling). Since so much care was put into incorporating game elements into the series, we’ve gone through and picked out the most noticeable (and some not-so-noticeable) Easter Eggs that the first season of Resident Evil includes.
Let’s go through the show on a game-by-game basis…
Resident Evil 0 (2002)
The series doesn’t pull too much from the 2002 prequel, but that oft-forgotten (and underrated!) entry in the game franchise is home to many of Resident Evil’s most crucial backstory elements. These elements are vital to the plot of the Netflix series.
Attentive viewers will notice that the series’ big bad Evelyn (Paola Núñez) has the surname Marcus. This is a reference to James Marcus who, along with Oswell E. Spencer and Edward Ashford, co-founded the Umbrella Corporation in March of 1967 as a way to fund their research on an African flower that they believed could give people superhuman abilities.
The show doesn’t give us any clues as to what happened to Marcus, but anyone who played Resident Evil 0 will know that backstory. You see, Marcus eventually became head of the Umbrella Executive Training School (one of the main locales in Resident Evil 0), which was used to train child prodigies to become Umbrella researchers. It was here that Marcus recruited Albert Wesker and William Birkin (more on the latter in a bit) into the program as part of the 1977-1978 training class. These two would become Marcus’ most valued pupils.
Left to his own devices and growing ever more obsessed with his research, Marcus began experimenting on animals and found himself fascinated with the virus’ effects on leeches. Realizing he needed to start human experimentation, he began infecting the child prodigies he was recruiting into the Training School by leaving infected leeches in their beds. Spencer grew paranoid of Marcus and, in 1988, he dispatched an Umbrella Security Service team to infiltrate his lab and gun him down. The worst of it? Both Birkin and Wesker accompanied the kill squad and stole his research, cementing their allegiance to Spencer.
You’d think that would be the end of Marcus, but the main antagonist of Resident Evil 0 is a mysterious operatic singer (no joke) with the ability to control the infected leeches. Well, this mysterious antagonist just so happens to be a resurrected James Marcus, courtesy of the Queen Leech he had been experimenting on. After crawling down his corpse’s throat, the Queen Leech merged Marcus’ DNA into its genome and gained his memories by absorbing his brain cells. This hybrid creation went on a rampage in 1998 to avenge his death, which involved starting the first T-Virus outbreak in the Arklay Mountains (the events of Resident Evil 0) that would eventually make its way to the Spencer Mansion (kickstarting the events of the original Resident Evil) and the original Raccoon City (kickstarting the events of both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis).
Now that all of that exposition is out of the way, how does it relate to Evelyn?
Well, Evelyn has become the head of the Umbrella Corporation by 2022, following in her father’s mad scientist footsteps. While we don’t get any leech action in the series’ first season, this fan hopes that Evelyn has a secret storage of leeches somewhere in her basement that can come out to play in subsequent seasons.
Resident Evil (1996)
Ah yes, the one that started it all. Resident Evil gets quite a few references in Netflix’s series, many of which are monsters that game fans have come to know and love in the 26 years since the game’s release. We of course get our standard zombies (named “Zeros” in the show), but we also get franchise mainstay Cerberus in the pilot episode.
On top of that, we also get a direct homage to one of the original game’s most famous jump scares:
Here is the jump scare in question:
The Cerberus isn’t the only monster from the original game that Resident Evil weaves into its narrative.
We also get an outstanding set piece involving Giant Spiders, and the season finale includes something that any seasoned Resident Evil veteran will recognize: a brief tease of a new Tyrant in Umbrella’s lab before it’s unleashed on the streets of New Raccoon City. The Tyrant, of course, is the final boss in the original Resident Evil and its 2002 remake.
But wait! There’s more! The show’s fifth episode, titled “Home Movies”, sees the incorporation of two of the franchise’s most famous puzzles. The first of which involves playing Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano to unlock a secret (in this case a loose piano key with a note hidden inside it).
The second puzzle involves Jade (Tamara Smart) using a dog whistle to summon a key-holding dog:
In that same episode, Jade and Billie (Adeline Rudolph) find a box labeled “RC 1998”, which includes a disc marked “Lisa” that shows a brief snippet of the original Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) and an unnamed Umbrella soldier encountering Lisa Trevor in the tunnels below the city. Wesker injects her with (presumably) another sample of the T-virus, causing a fresh eyeball to sprout on her back!
Game fans will recognize Lisa Trevor as one of the franchise’s creatures with the most tragic backstory.
Jade also finds some research that is dated September 18, 1998, which would have been just 10 days before the outbreak would happen in the original Raccoon City, kickstarting the events of Resident Evil 2.
Speaking of…
Resident Evil 2 (1998)
While the original Raccoon City is referenced multiple times across the season’s eight episodes, it isn’t until the fifth episode, titled “Home Movies”, that we get an explicit reference to William Birkin as Jade and Billie dig through their father’s secret files. Birkin is a main player (and boss) in Resident Evil 2, as he was the leading scientist behind the T- and G-Viruses who turned against the Umbrella Corporation after failing to achieve a promotion. As mentioned above in the Resident Evil 0 section: Birkin worked closely with the original Albert Wesker in the events leading up to James Marcus’ assassination.
Is a passing reference to William Birkin not enough for you? Then how about what may be Resident Evil‘s biggest season 2 tease of the show: Ada Wong, who we know for sure we’ll be getting if the show gets renewed.
And what the series lacks in Resident Evil 2 characters, it more than makes up for with monsters. The first of which is the infamous Licker, which gets its best live-action set piece yet in the third episode:
But if you’re bored with the Lickers (since they’ve been in almost every single one of Resident Evil‘s live-action adaptations), perhaps the “live-action” debut of Resident Evil 2‘s giant mutated alligator will satisfy your needs:
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)
Resident Evil 3‘s shadow looms large over every single episode of the series. References to Raccoon City’s destruction (the climax of RE3) are made often, but Umbrella’s destrution of Raccoon City in 1998 has been covered up. The rest of the world now thinks the explosion was the result of a gas leak and not the nuclear bomb/cover-up that it actually was. The attempt to uncover that conspiracy is a major plot point in the series.
Given the fact that Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is Dabb’s favorite game in the franchise, it makes sense that the very first scene in the pilot includes a set piece with the Grave Digger boss from that game:
There is also one tiny visual reference to Resident Evil 3, only this time it’s the remake! 2020’s revamp of the classic game opens with protagonist Jill Valentine having a nightmare in which she turns into a zombie after visiting her bathroom sink. The same thing happens to Billie (complete with the same POV camera angle) in “The Light”, the show’s third episode.
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
Fans hoping to see any members of Los Illuminados (Resident Evil 4‘s evil religious cult) in Netflix’s series will be out of luck, but it makes up for that in its fourth episode “The Turn”, which might as well just be called “The Resident Evil 4 one.”
Not only do we get an evil religious cult (this time called “The Brotherhood”), but we also get the first on-screen appearance of the bag-headed chainsaw man:
Could The Brotherhood be revealed to be an extension of Resident Evil 4‘s Los Illuminados in a future season? One can only hope…
Resident Evil 5 (2009)
A big question on people’s minds when the show was announced was “Didn’t Albert Wesker die in a volcano in 2009?” The Netflix series keeps its card close to its chest for much of its first season, but that question is answered in the affirmative in “The Turn” when journalist Angel Rubio (Pedro de Tavira Egurrola) tells Jade and Billie that their father, well, died in 2009. Game players will immediately recognize this as a reference to Wesker’s death by rocket launcher in a volcano in Resident Evil 5:
This reference is finally made explicit in the show’s seventh episode, “Parasite”, with this exceptionally silly line of dialogue delivered by Bert (Lance Reddick), one of Wesker’s clones: “He died in a volcano. It’s okay, though. He wasn’t very nice.”
Lest you feel cheated by the lack of original Wesker in the series, “Parasite” also opens with a flashback to 2005 inf the Arklay Mountains (where the mansion in the original Resident Evil was located) in which we see the original Wesker decked out in his Matrix-y Resident Evil 5 outfit. In the scene, OG Wesker lords over his three clones Alby (Lance Reddick), Albert and the aforementioned Bert as they work on a “chest mount prototype.” Oh, did I mention that he has super-speed and super-strength powers just like he did in Resident Evil: Code Veronica and Resident Evil 5?
Oh, and that chest mount prototype that he’s talking about? It contains P30, a chemical compound known for its performance-enhancing effects on the human body and was used to brainwash Resident Evil and Resident Evil 3 protagonist Jill Valentine in Resident Evil 5, forcing her to fight against her former partner Chris Redfield.
Resident Evil 6 (2012)
The most-hated mainline entry in the game franchise somehow gets a nod in the series’ fourth episode. After being abducted by The Brotherhood, adult Jade (Ella Balinska) comes face to face with Mother Zero, a zombie who can control other Zeros with her piercing shriek. While the creature design isn’t an exact replica of the Shrieker zombie from Resident Evil 6, the pulsating growth on her neck is close enough to the Shrieker’s chest growth that we’ll give it a pass. Plus, the Shrieker’s mutated vocal cords produce a sound that summons zombies to the Shrieker’s position, which is pretty similar to what Mother Zero does in the show.
All of that being said, this doesn’t seem to be an intentional reference on Dabb’s part, at least according to an interview he participated in with our own Meagan Navarro.
Stray Eggs
There are a few other Easter Eggs that don’t really figure prominently into the plot, but they’re there nonetheless. The second episode, “The Devil You Know” sees adult Jade seek refuge in a woman’s house as she tries to reach “Barry”. While this could be seen as a reference to fan favorite character Barry Burton, it’s unlikely given the fact that Barry’s wife in the games is named Kathy and his wife in the show is named Melinda.
One of the lesser-known monsters from the franchise also makes an appearance in “The Light” and it’s the zombie rat from the spinoff game Resident Evil: Outbreak.
In a deep cut reference, one of the smugglers in the show’s third episode wields the triple-barrel shotgun known as the Hydra, which features prominently in both Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. Baxter (Turlough Convery) refers to himself as “the master of unlocking” in the fourth episode, while also wielding the Red9 (the most powerful handgun in Resident Evil 4).
And finally, the show gives us its own version of a safe room in the fourth episode, where we see Jade hide out in a room with an in-your-face shot of a typewriter, the game franchise’s main device used to save your progress before heading back out into the survival horror.
Left out of the Netflix series are any references to the events of Resident Evil: Code Veronica (aka Resident Evil 3.5), Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village (aka Resident Evil 8), but Dabb has already gone on record saying he’d like to bring Village‘s Lady Dimitrescu into a future season so it’s not like those games are off limits! And given the way the season ends, the doors are open for any and all fan favorite characters and creatures to make appearances in future seasons (my top pick: Resident Evil 4’s Regenerators). Now we’ve just got to hope that Netflix renews it!
Did we miss any references or Easter Eggs? Let us know in the comments below!
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