The Resident Evil franchise is being tailored into live-action as soon as once more. However whereas the earlier theatrical movies had been very free diversifications of the supply materials, Netflix’s new collection seeks to construct on the established Resident Evil sport continuity. And this time, the collection’ most fascinating but convoluted villain – Albert Wesker – is the star of the present.
How precisely does Wesker match into this new collection, and the way does all of it tie again to his complicated historical past of deaths and resurrections? Let’s break down what we all know to this point.
Albert Wesker: S.T.A.R.S. Captain or Umbrella Agent?
Like collection mainstays Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, Albert Wesker made his debut manner again within the unique Resident Evil in 1996. The sport introduces Wesker because the captain of the Particular Ways and Rescue Squad (or S.T.A.R.S.), a particular ops drive referred to as upon to research a collection of mysterious killings on the outskirts of Raccoon Metropolis. However whereas Wesker initially comes throughout as a useful ally because the participant explores the zombie-infested halls of Spencer Mansion, he’s ultimately revealed to have a sinister agenda all his personal.
Wesker betrays his personal staff within the sport’s climax, revealing himself to be a double agent working for the Umbrella Company. The zombie outbreak was attributable to publicity to Umbrella’s experimental T-virus bioweapon, and Wesker’s job is to look at the zombies and report again on their navy effectiveness. Wesker is seemingly killed in a lab deep beneath the mansion, however not earlier than he frees Umbrella’s deadliest creation – the Tyrant.
Wesker manages to outlive his brush with dying, nonetheless. That will turn into one thing of a working theme with the character.
The Many Deaths of Albert Wesker
Wesker went on to play a serious function in a number of Resident Evil sequels and spinoffs, most notably 2000’s Resident Evil Code: Veronica, 2002’s Resident Evil Zero, 2005’s Resident Evil 4 and 2009’s Resident Evil 5.
Over the course of those video games, gamers study the total, difficult backstory of Albert Wesker. He started his profession as a promising virologist who rose up the ranks of Umbrella Corp and colluded with fellow researcher William Birkin. By the point of the unique sport, Wesker is planning to betray his employer and promote the secrets and techniques of the T-virus to a rival company. And regardless of being impaled by the Tyrant, Wesker survives after injecting himself with an experimental model of the T-virus. And never simply survives, however positive factors enhanced power, pace and glowing crimson eyes, besides.
Wesker returns a number of occasions over the course of the collection, typically straight battling heroes like Chris and Claire Redfield and different occasions quietly pulling everybody’s strings from behind the scenes. However the frequent thread all through the video games – other than Wesker consistently faking his dying – is that he’s obsessive about stealing Umbrella’s analysis and unleashing it upon the world. He believes humanity has reached an evolutionary lifeless finish, and solely by unlocking the total potential of the T-virus can the species attain its true potential.
All of this involves a head in Resident Evil 5, as Wesker resurfaces but once more and conspires with the Tricell Company to launch the Uroboros virus throughout the globe. Although Wesker is extra highly effective than ever by this level, Chris and his allies study their outdated nemesis relies on a relentless provide of a particular serum to remain alive. If he takes an excessive amount of or too little, Wesker might die.
After one last battle together with his outdated nemesis Chris, Wesker lastly dies a fiery dying. Or did he?
In the end, Wesker’s luck runs out when he’s overdosed with the serum and crashlands into an lively volcano. After one last battle together with his outdated nemesis Chris, Wesker lastly dies a fiery dying. Or did he?
Albert Wesker in Netflix’s Resident Evil
Netflix’s early teasers for Resident Evil have revealed a shocking element concerning the collection. Whereas it might not be set in the very same universe because the Capcom video games, the brand new collection exists in a world the place some model of these tales has occurred. That features Wesker’s dying in 2009.
The Netflix collection takes place in two separate time durations – one in 2022 and the opposite in a zombie-ravaged 2036. Wesker (performed by The Wire’s Lance Reddick) is a serious character within the 2022 storyline. The trailers trace that Wesker is as soon as once more working as a virologist for a resurgent Umbrella Corp., which has rebuilt Raccoon Metropolis on the ashes of the unique metropolis. Much more surprisingly, Wesker now has two daughters whose story kinds the spine of each timelines. There is not any phrase but on whether or not Wesker’s son Jake Muller, who performs an enormous half in Resident Evil 6, will seem within the Netflix collection.
Showrunner Andrew Dabb beforehand confirmed to IGN that Wesker did certainly perish within the last battle in Resident Evil 5 and didn’t merely pretend his dying as he so usually has up to now. One way or the other, Wesker is again, and he appears comparatively extra sane than he was in a lot of the video games. Is it attainable we’ll study that Wesker was some kind of deranged clone, and the unique has remained loyal to Umbrella all this time?
Regardless of the secret to Wesker’s return, it’s clear he’s nonetheless pursuing his final agenda of forcibly advancing human evolution. The post-apocalyptic 2036 storyline suggests Wesker will ultimately unleash his creation on the world, leaving a dwindling inhabitants to struggle for its survival towards billions of zombies and the worst monsters Umbrella has to supply.
How do you suppose Wesker survived his dying in Resident Evil 5? How will the Netflix collection construct on the muse of the video games? Tell us your ideas within the feedback beneath. And for extra Netflix Geeked Week protection, brush up on every thing that is been revealed on the occasion to this point.
Jesse is a mild-mannered employees author for IGN. Enable him to lend a machete to your mental thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
