Netflix's 'Resident Evil' Series Casts 'John Wick' Actor Lance Reddick As Villain Albert Wesker
Netflix has taken a different approach to casting a key role in its live-action Resident Evil series. Whereas the villainous character of Albert Wesker, the Big Bad of the entire Resident Evil franchise, has previously been portrayed as a blonde white guy, showrunner Andrew Dabb (Supernatural) has opted to switch things up by casting Lance Reddick (John Wick, The Wire) in that significant role.
New Resident Evil Cast
Across the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil movies from Paul W.S. Anderson, the character of Albert Wesker was played by actors Jason O'Mara and Shawn Roberts. Now the duplicitous mastermind will be portrayed by Lance Reddick in this new live-action show, which is supposed to be a "totally fresh spin" on Resident Evil.
Reddick will be joined by fellow cast members Adeline Rudolph (Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Siena Agudong (No Good Nick), Paola Nuñez (Bad Boys For Life), Tamara Smart (Artemis Fowl), and Ella Balinska (Charlie's Angels). Unfortunately, we don't know what characters they're set to play.
Here's the official synopsis for the show, which will take place across two timelines:
In the first timeline, fourteen-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker are moved to New Raccoon City. A manufactured, corporate town, forced on them right as adolescence is in full swing. But the more time they spend there, the more they come to realize that the town is more than it seems and their father may be concealing dark secrets. Secrets that could destroy the world.
Cut to the second timeline, well over a decade into the future: there are less than fifteen million people left on Earth. And more than six billion monsters — people and animals infected with the T-virus. Jade, now thirty, struggles to survive in this New World, while the secrets from her past – about her sister, her father and herself – continue to haunt her.
It's a Good Time to Be a Resident Evil Fan
Fans of this franchise are going to have to grab their metaphorical umbrellas (Get it? Because of the Umbrella Corporation? You get it) to shield themselves from a tempest of Resident Evil projects that are on the way. There's a CG anime called Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness that debuts on Netflix next month, as well as a film reboot that arrives this September starring Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield and Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker.