Editor's note: The below article contains spoilers for Resident Evil.Although Netflix’s Resident Evil doesn’t adapt the storyline of any specific game, the series fits right into the canon. That’s because the series has zombies, mutant creatures, evil corporations, and, above all, a convoluted story filled with twists and turns. Like any Resident Evil game, Netflix’s live-action series also crank up the weirdness right at the end, introducing bizarre elements that test our suspension of disbelief. So, now that we’ve all finished binge-watching the latest Resident Evil adaptation, it’s time to discuss all the wacky details of the season's ending.
Resident Evil tells a story split into two different timelines. First, in 2022, we follow Jade (Tamara Smart) and Billie (Siena Agudong) as they move to New Raccoon City with their dad, Albert Wesker (Lance Reddick). Adapting to life in a new city is already hard for teenagers, but to make Jade’s and Billie’s lives more complicated, their father works for Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical industry involved in many shady experiments. One of these experiments, the deadly T-Virus, becomes the center of the siblings' journey when Billie is bitten by an infected dog. In 2022, the series tells the story of the two sisters as they uncover their father’s secrets and run against the clock to save Billie's life.
Netflix’s Resident Evil also takes us to 2036, a moment in history where humanity was almost wiped out by the T-Virus and the survivors organized themselves into different factions. This part of the story follows an adult version of Jade (Ella Balinska), trying to go back home after her surveilling research goes wrong. Jade is part of the University faction, a group of survivors determined to preserve history and rebuild society. However, when Jade's study of the infected people – called Zeroes – almost kills her, she is forced to travel through enemy territory and face different factions while trying to get home to her family.
While Resident Evil tells both stories simultaneously, it’s not until the end that we find all the pieces of the puzzle and can piece together what happened in New Raccoon City that led to the T-Virus outbreak. To understand the future, then, we must first look at the past.
Breaking Into Umbrella
While trying to find out how to deal with Billie being infected by the T-Virus, the two siblings uncover many disturbing things about their father’s past. As it turns out, the Albert Wesker who fathered two children is not the same man who served as a villain for many Resident Evil games. The OG Wesker was all about solving problems with his fists, but he needed a backup team of scientists to help him do everything he did. And since Wesker didn’t trust anyone but himself, he created clones to do the scientific busywork in his place. Jade’s and Billie’s father is one of these clones, rescued by Evelyn Marcus in 2005 (Paola Núñez). The clone, also named Albert, started working for Umbrella and helped the company become a multimillion-dollar business in exchange for having a life and creating his daughters.
While Jade and Billie are Albert’s daughters, the genius scientist altered their genetic code, making them brighter, healthier, and with an affinity for sports. Albert also manipulated the girl’s DNA to turn their blood into medicine. Unfortunately, since Albert is a clone who was exposed to a rapid-aging process, his cells are always on the brink of breaking down and killing him. That’s why he must inject the blood of either Jade or Billie into his own body every day to halt the deterioration of his cells.
Albert is not the only clone working for Evelyn, as the head of Umbrella Corporation also keeps Bert locked in an underground cell. Contrary to Albert, Bert is highly unstable and prone to violence, leading Evelyn to keep him in captivity. However, Evelyn never disposed of him due to his intelligence. Because he’s also a genius, Bert can work as a safeguard if Albert stops following her orders. Evelyn is a smart woman because Albert indeed starts to question orders, leading to his imprisonment in Umbrella’s labs.
At the end of Season 1 of Resident Evil, Evelyn finds out Billie has been bitten and takes the girls to Umbrella’s lab to study her. To Evelyn’s surprise, even though Billie has been infected by the T-Virus, the pathogen is not causing any major mutation in her body. That’s a welcome side effect of Albert’s experiments on the girls, as Billie seems to be practically immune to the T-Virus. She still suffers from visions and hypersensibility, often losing control and attacking people around her. But most of the time, she keeps her conscience.
In the final episode of Season 1 of Resident Evil, Jade plans to break into Umbrella’s labs and rescue her sister. To get into the building, Jade counts on the help of Simon (Connor Gosatti), Evelyn’s tech-savory son. As for Billie, the girl is already working on her own escape, encountering “Uncle” Bert while running through the labs. Bert agrees to help Billie escape, but he also convinces the girl to forgive her father, Albert. So, before getting out of New Raccoon City, Billie decides to free Albert. The whole family reunites at Albert's cell when they decide to stand together and escape Evelyn and her goons.
Due to the stress of the escape, Billie has one of her anger accesses and ends up biting Simon. When Evelyn realizes Simon is infected, she shoots her own son in the head to prevent him from ever becoming a monster. While Evelyn pulled the trigger, she blames Billie and the Weskers for the death of her son and decides they all must die. To protect his family, Albert sacrifices his life to blow up Umbrella’s labs, killing Evelyn in the process. Before sending the girls away with Uncle Bert, Albert gives Jade a piece of paper with the name of a woman she must find once they escape.
Albert blows everything up — and while the future segment of the series shows us that both he and Evelyn survived the explosion, the event has a dire consequence. The explosion sets free a Tyrant, a huge mutant creature that has been kept hidden in Umbrella’s lab. It’s safe to assume, then, that the Tyrant’s release is what is going to spread the T-Virus and lead to the zombie outbreak. As for the piece of paper Jade gets from Albert, it contains the address of Ada Wong, a fan-favorite Resident Evil character that is set to show up in an eventual Season 2.
Finally, the ending of Resident Evil shows how the two sisters begin to drift apart. Even though Jade knows Billie is not in control of her actions, Simon’s death is something she cannot fully forgive. We still don’t know how both sisters become mortal enemies in the future, but that’s definitely the first step toward the Wesker family’s destruction.
Family Business
In 2036, we learn that Jade is studying Zeroes’ behavior while trying to make a breakthrough that might help rebuild society. She gets what she wants by accident in France when she’s arrested by the Brotherhood faction. Inside the faction’s bunker, Jade finds a special infected that’s capable of controlling other Zeroes. Jade risks her life to decapitate the specimen and take its head back to the University. Unfortunately, her plans are interrupted when Billie arrives at the location with a battalion of Umbrella troops. At first, Jade is captured, but Billie helps her sister escape, pretending she regrets having chosen Umbrella over her own family.
Jade goes to the University, a huge ship that is constantly moving to evade Umbrella. There, she uses the special infected head to synthesize pheromones that can be used to either attract Zeroes or push them away. With these tools, Jade believes the University might be able to rebuild cities. With one pheromone, they can make sure any person or place keeps safe from the Zeroes. With the other, they can attract the Zeroes to specific places. While Jade is progressing on her research, Billie is tracking her position through an electronic tracer hidden inside the special infected head.
Billie offers a deal to the University, promising to spare their lives if they handle Jade. Knowing what Umbrella is capable of, Jade convinces her daughter, Bea (Ella Zieglmeier), to get out of the boat and run away. Meanwhile, she surrenders herself to Billie. During this rencounter, Jade learns that the T-Virus might finally kill Billie and that her sister needs her special blood to survive. Even though Jade agrees to go peacefully, Billie still orders an attack on the University ship. Jade breaks a flask of the attraction pheromone on the ground to save her faction, calling a horde of Zeroes into Umbrella’s camp.
In the heat of the battle, Jade escapes, returns to the University’s ship, and convinces her colleagues to release their secret weapon: a giant T-Virus-infused killer crocodile. Yes, that’s right, a crocodile that lives in the sea, underwater, without breathing. The pheromone also attracts the beast, which helps wipe out almost every Umbrella soldier. Only Billie escapes in a helicopter with a handful of soldiers.
Meanwhile, Jade realizes Bea is missing and goes to her rescue with her husband, Arjun (Ahad Raza Mir). Taking a small boat, the couple returns to the mainland, only to get caught in the combat between Umbrella and the giant croc. The couple’s boat gets torn apart, Arjun's leg is injured, and Jade is forced to continue by herself.
From the helicopter, Billie can see the giant croc closing in on Bea. Instead of attacking the girl, the beast approaches her gently. At that moment, we can see Bea is somehow safe from T-Virus-infected creatures. Billie uses missiles to kill the croc and land the helicopter. Jade reaches her daughter in time for another family rencounter. Billie questions Jade about Bea’s DNA, certain that the girl was genetically altered to be safe in a world filled with Zeroes. Believing she doesn’t need Jade anymore, Billie shoots her sister in the stomach, leaving her to die. Jade has to watch while Billie kidnaps Bea, taking her to Umbrella territory. So, in a potential Season 2 of Resident Evil, Jade will have to journey into the heart of Umbrella to get her daughter back.