“Resident Evil” Reboot Reveals New Cast to Play Iconic Game Characters!

For those waiting for the Resident Evil film series to return, well, Deadline has reported a new cast for the upcoming reboot. Some of the casting decisions are quite interesting.

There’s still a lot of money to be made from the Resident Evil franchise. New games are still coming out. Netflix is busy working on a live-action as well as an animated series. So, of course, the films were going to come back too. Whether you enjoyed the Milla Jovovich-led fare or not, it’s a fact that those movies made quite a lot of money.

Turns out, the upcoming reboot from Constantin Films will be taking a more game-loyal approach. According to what Constantin and writer-director Johannes Roberts told Deadline, the new film will focus on an origin story that’s supposed to be faithful to the game’s lore. It will be set in 1998 in Raccoon City. 

As for the cast, here’s the breakdown:

• Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield.
• Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield (his character better stick to the games and remain queer!).
• Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine.
• Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy.
• Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker.
• Neal McDonough as William Birkin.

It’s clear that the upcoming Resident Evil film reboot hasn’t gone for an all-white main cast. It will be interesting to see how these actors will handle their respective roles.

Personally, I would have made the Redfield siblings be played by actors of Native American descent. I say this because, according to some members in the R.E fandom, the original concept saw Chris Redfield as a Native American. Such a depiction would have given us the metatext of a Native American fighting a commercially created virus meant to destroy the land instead of having the hero be another example of the white-savior trope.

“With this movie, I really wanted to go back to the original first two games and re-create the terrifying visceral experience I had when I first played them whilst at the same time telling a grounded human story about a small dying American town that feels both relatable and relevant to today’s audiences,” Roberts shared.

According to what Deadline reported, and from what I could understand, the reboot will focus on the first two games. Now, I’m not sure how that will work. There’s a lot that happened in the Spenser Mansion featured in the first game. A lot happened in Resident Evil 2 as well. Wouldn’t the timeline be confusing to follow, trying to showcase both events that didn’t occur during the same time? Will the movie jump from the past to the present and vice versa?

I would have liked the first film in the reboot to focus on Chris, Jill, Wesker, Barry, and Rebecca, with the second one featuring Leon, Claire, Sherry, and Jill.

But let’s see what happens.

Other than the new movie, there’s a live-action adaptation coming to Netflix. There’s also an animated series titled Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness releasing on Netflix sometime next year.

The Resident Evil: Village game will release in 2021, too.

So, that’s a lot of Resident Evil content for fans.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the reboot with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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