From creator Andrew Dabb, the Netflix series Resident Evil (which hails from the popular media franchise created by Capcom) serves as the third live-action adaptation set in this universe. The show, which takes its backstory and lore from the video games but branches off into its own original continuity, is set over a perspective of dual timelines, one taking place in our present and one set in a semi-distant future.
In 2022, Dr. Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick) and his two daughters, Jade (Tamara Smart) and Billie (Siena Agudong) have recently relocated to a new planned community known as New Raccoon City, a vision established by the mysterious Umbrella Corporation — to which Wesker serves as an executive and researcher publicly tasked with the creation of a new product known as "Joy." In secret, however, Wesker is seeking to engineer a response to the epidemic of something called the "T-virus." Meanwhile, Jade and Billie, suspicious of their father's actual work, start digging into Umbrella's secrets — much to the chagrin of Wesker's boss and company head Evelyn Marcus (Paola Núñez).
In the future timeline of 2036, Jade (Ella Balinska) is on the run from Umbrella, who is seeking her for some nefarious purpose — but she also has to survive dangerous groups of "zeroes," those who have been infected by the T-virus, in order to make it home to her family. However, Jade's situation becomes even more complicated when it's revealed that not only Umbrella, but her sister Billie (Adeline Rudolph) has quite the bone to pick with her too.
Ahead of the show's July 14 premiere, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Smart and Agudong about joining the Resident Evil universe and how they were first cast to play Wesker sisters Jade and Billie. Over the course of the interview, which you can watch above or read below, Smart and Agudong discuss their familiarity with the franchise before they joined the series, what they did to grow their on-screen bond off-camera, how it was to work with Reddick both as a scene partner and spend time with him on-set, which scenes were most challenging to film, and more.
Collider: How familiar were you with the Resident Evil franchise before you signed onto this show?
SIENA AGUDONG: I was coming into this completely fresh. I actually didn't know about the franchise and how big it was. But I did watch a bunch of people playing the video games, so I could familiarize myself. I was very nervous auditioning though. I do remember that, and I was like, "Oh, whatever happens happens, but this is huge."
TAMARA SMART: Yeah, I would agree. We kind of just started on the same level, which I think was important because it just meant we went in [with] the same kind of knowledge and...
AGUDONG: Yeah.
SMART: We were both very nervous about it, coming in with fresh characters, and it means a lot to people. And it's nerve-wracking kind of coming into that because you don't want to intrude or anything, and it's joining this massive franchise. Because we're coming — I think we got lucky because we came in with fresh characters and so it means you can mold it into the storyline, which we got really lucky with. But yeah, we really enjoyed kind of working together, especially just because we're all on the same level.
I definitely want to ask you about the casting process and what that was like. Did the two of you get a chance to read off of each other? Were there sister chemistry tests? How did all of that pan out?
AGUDONG: Usually, there are, but this casting process was just a bit different, at least for me. I remember, I first auditioned for Jade. It didn't work for me. And then they came back the next day, and then they gave me the audition for Billie. I sent in a self-tape, and then I heard that I was in the mix January or February of 2020, and I booked it officially in November, and we started filming in January. So it was spread out throughout a whole year, a very exciting, very nerve-wracking.
SMART: So I auditioned for Jade, and then I auditioned for Billie, and they were like, "This is wrong." So then I auditioned for Jade again, and then I found out I was in the running, and then I found out I got the part. But it was so much fun. Honestly, it was really interesting because we kind of just got to really get to know the characters, I think, and that was really important. I think that what also was important was that we kind of got this fresh start, which we wouldn't have gotten if we had done a screen test, which was really interesting.
AGUDONG: True.
SMART: And also when we were put in that kind of last-minute moment in the characters, in the set, it kind of worked really well, so I think we got really lucky with that.
AGUDONG: That's true. We did work on a lot of development for our characters before we even worked together. So then we just kind of got to get there.
SMART: We did the thing.
The relationship between Billie and Jade is obviously complicated, but also very close-knit. I feel like I already know the answer to this question just seeing the two of you right now, interacting in front of me, but did the two of you do anything off-set or off-camera to really grow the dynamic that we see on the show?
SMART: No, not really. We just were separate that whole time. Yeah, no.
AGUDONG: We were together —
SMART: We did so much stuff.
AGUDONG: — almost every day.
SMART: We went to a safari, we went horse riding, we went surfing, we went tobogganing. We did a lot of stuff.
AGUDONG: We went... sand boarding?
SMART: Sand duning.
AGUDONG: Yeah. We hung out a lot, and we got to know each other pretty well, especially in the beginning. That was really important to us to just spend that kind of time together and develop it. But honestly, I feel like a lot of our relationship development was on and off takes. Because you were so vulnerable in the scene and then you step off of set, and you're still in that vulnerability, and there's so much power of bonding with someone in that moment.
SMART: Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. I would completely agree. And yeah, I would just agree in some in-between scenes, we just get to know each other more. Like, "What's your favorite color?" Okay. Actually now we're crying again.
You're in a unique position because the both of you are playing characters that are also played by different actresses in the future version of themselves. I'm wondering how collaborative that process was for the four of you. Did you have a chance to work with the actresses playing the older sisters, work out any similarities in what you wanted to kind of bring to those characters?
SMART: We didn't have a lot of time because of just the fact that our schedules were completely opposite. So it was really hard to kind of figure out times when we could do that. But the first couple of weeks were really light, so we got lucky with that and then kind of just started working together, just to create those just tiny similarities in just certain mannerisms. Just the way that we would say things or lines or the way that you would hold someone. We both kind of just did that, Siena with Adeline [Rudolph] and I with Ella [Balinska]. But it was just really important for us to have that because the timelines are so, so starkly different, and we didn't want to make it so obvious that it was like, "They're trying," but not enough that it was like, "They don't look, they don't even act the same."
AGUDONG: Yeah. Since we didn't have much time, the times that we were together we definitely tried to get as much out of it and tried to spend as much time, getting to know each other.
I don't think it's inaccurate to say that a huge theme of this show is family, and one of the things I really loved about this show specifically is how the Wesker family dynamic, again, is just so complex, has so many different layers, and also becomes more complicated the more that these girls are looking into what their father is actually doing at Umbrella. I spoke with Lance [Reddick] a little bit about it earlier today, but I would love to get your take on just figuring out that dynamic with him, working with him, what he's like as a scene partner, that kind of thing.
AGUDONG: Lance is incredible. He's so well respected in the industry and such an incredible actor. But just watching him work and being around that and being in a scene with him and having that opportunity to just work off of an actor like him was just so inspiring. Yeah, for him to play our dad, you dream of working with someone like that. So he taught us a lot on and off set, took care of us, and it really helped working with such talented actors. You got to just play off of each other and find something new in each take.
SMART: I think what really, really helped was the fact that we were just kind of put in South Africa, and so just by chance, the universe kind of pushed us together as a family because you are missing your own family. We were there for six months, and so we were just making those connections because it's like, "I'm going to be away for a while, and so I'll make these connections," and you just get to know people more, even just with the crew. It just kind of happened because you're just surrounded by these people, and you get to know them and you make these connections, and they just become really important to you.
There are a ton of very intense scenes, not just on an emotional level, but a physical level as well. But anything that was particularly challenging to film this season, whether it was a scene together or apart?
SMART: Yeah. For me, there was one scene. It was... yeah. (laughs) This is hard. Yeah. You know which scene I'm talking about.
AGUDONG: Yeah. I think I do. There's a scene that we're both in and that's definitely spoiler territory, but we won't go into it. But it was definitely physically demanding. But we trained on and off set, and we worked with the stunt team, and they made us feel safe.
SMART: I was actually thinking of a different scene.
AGUDONG: What?
SMART: So there's a scene for me, which is really hard, which is really distressing, and we filmed it for about three days. But anyway, that scene I found is really hard because-
AGUDONG: Oh, yes!
SMART: I was crying in it and I was screaming, and I was crying and screaming for about three days. I lost my voice. Yeah. It was a lot, a lot, but it was so worth it, watching that back was insane.
Resident Evil is now available to stream on Netflix.