Where does the new ‘Resident Evil’ series fit in the timeline?

‘Resident Evil‘ will premiere on Netflix in July 2022. As the thriller story progresses, the in-universe timeline becoming more uncertain.

The plot of the first few mainline games takes place in and around Raccoon City, a fictionalised Midwestern town that is the site of numerous nefarious biological experiments carried out by the sinister biomedical group Umbrella Corporation.

‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’ (with some significant differences from the previous games), ‘Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’, and the most recent game in the series, ‘Resident Evil Village’, were all released in 2021.

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‘Resident Evil’ will take place in two timelines: one in 2022, when the Wesker family moves to New Raccoon City and Albert Wesker works on his latest virus, and another in 2023 when the Wesker family returns.

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The second timeline takes place in 2036 when the world has ended and only 15 million humans remain alive on the planet, with over 6 billion undead animals and humans attempting to eat them. With Albert Wesker’s history as a terror tinkerer, it appears very likely that he is to blame for the post-apocalyptic future; his experiments in 2022 appear to be directly related to this, and the outbreak’s origin is teased in Resident Evil’s trailer.

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The 14-year gap between the two timelines indicates that the virus took some time to completely destroy the world, and while it won’t be explored this season, future ‘Resident Evil’ seasons may delve deeper into humanity’s gradual demise, with the future timeline being more about survival or possibly obtaining a cure and the first timeline acting as a precursor.

The popular franchise returns in 2022 with the new series following Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) as he moves to New Raccoon City to begin working with Umbrella – which appears to have been reformed – and he appears to be building a new, deadlier virus.

As the new series follows the events of the games, Albert Wesker has been narratively dead since 2009. However, there are several theories as to how Wesker is alive, and showrunner Andrew Dabb has confirmed that ‘Resident Evil’ will answer the questions surrounding him.

The most recent Resident Evil game was released in May 2021 and was set in February of that year, implying a one-year gap between the first timeline in Netflix’s ‘Resident Evil’ TV series and the most recent videogame‘s timeline.

The upcoming Netflix promises blood, gore, and monsters, which is a perfect recipe for a horror that is best seen with the lights turned on.

The new ‘Resident Evil’ aired on July 14, on Netflix.