What’s Next For The Resident Evil Franchise?

With the impending release of the Resident Evil 4 remake, fans are already looking ahead. While we don’t know a lot of extensive information about the franchise’s future, we can guess where they’re going. Remember that this is a combination of utilizing existing information and pure speculation. While I will be focusing primarily on the games, I’ll also look at the future of Film/TV.

Resident Evil 9

**SPOILERS AHEAD FOR RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE**

The simplest and easiest prediction is a sequel to the 8th game in the franchise, Resident Evil Village. Village wrapped up the Ethan Winters saga. Even though the end of the game seemingly sets up Rose Winters as the series’ protagonist going forward. However, it was later confirmed by the director of the DLC for Village, Kento Kinoshita, that the DLC concludes their saga. Meaning that the inevitable Resident Evil 9 will follow a new (or returning) protagonist.

The easiest character to focus on would be Chris Redfield. Who was re-introduced in Resident Evil 7 and featured prominently in Village; with even an extended sequence of that game focusing on Chris. So a game in first-person like Resident Evil 7, but from the perspective of Chris would make sense. That said, I do wonder how much story is left for Chris after surviving the Spencer Mansion, an Antarctic facility, and repeatedly punching a boulder.

There’s also a strong possibility that Resident Evil 9 ditches the 1st person perspective and returns to the over-the-shoulder 3rd person perspective. At the very least, if the DLC for Resident Evil Village is any indicator, they should make the perspective a choice, even though that would be considerably harder to design.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica Remake

As the Resident Evil 3 remake ended, I expected Capcom to revisit Code Veronica. A game that had some issues, and some great points as well. If you think about it though, Resident Evil 4 being remade makes sense, and the 4th game more directly follows up on the 2nd game. So if we’re seeing Leon’s story continued directly after the 2nd game, I think it only makes sense for Claire’s story to continue as well.

Producer of the Resident Evil 4 remake, Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, did mention that Capcom was fully invested in the Resident Evil 4 remake but did say that if the opportunity arose, he would love to remake Code Veronica. Interestingly, Capcom also recently sent a cease and desist to creators of fan remakes of Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Code Veronica. There’s a lot of conflicting speculation as to why Capcom would end these remakes, but it seems simple: Capcom is going to remake the game themselves and doesn’t want to compete with a fan remake. Which also takes me to . . .

Resident Evil (re-remake)

Yes, we already got a Resident Evil remake for the Gamecube. But that was back in 2002, and even with a remaster of that remake, it’s still showing its age. Fans tried to remake the first game with the new engine, and Capcom shut it down. Considering how Capcom chose to remake Resident Evil 2 first; tells me that they’re fine with the 2015 HD remaster as is. But with fans updating the game to remove its tank controls and troublesome camera; it’s a prospect that is impossible to ignore from Capcom.

If anything, a remake would better flesh out the characters we later saw in the other remakes. It could also introduce characters like Wesker and Chris Redfield so that you could later do a Code Veronica remake. That said, I also wouldn’t put it past Capcom to simply remake Code Veronica and expect any players not up to date on the franchise to simply catch up. So it’s not necessarily required to remake the first game before you remake Code Veronica.

There was also Resident Evil Zero which could support itself as a remake on its own. However, with it being a prequel to the first game, I could also see them combining the story and content of Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil and creating one more cohesive narrative and experience between the two.

Movies and TV

Unfortunately, the past two years have not been kind to Resident Evil in other media.

The Resident Evil Netflix series simply failed to find an audience and was canceled after one season.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was not a huge success for the studio, but it made its money back. The director and stars are all eager to return to this universe. Adapting storylines like the ones seen in Resident Evil 4 and Code Veronica would be awesome. We’ve yet to hear much about a sequel to this film. Although Tom Hopper, who played Wesker, did confirm that Sony and Constantin Films were pleased with the film’s success. Still, when or if that translates to a sequel is currently unforeseeable.

I think Capcom is likely letting Resident Evil rest for a bit in the TV and movie department. One also has to ask if Resident Evil needs a movie and TV adaptation when the games look as great as they do these days.

Perhaps we’ll see a sequel one day to Welcome to Raccoon City. I don’t think fans need storylines they can’t connect with or characters they don’t care about. It’s better for them to focus on polishing any sequel to that film and making it as fun and faithful as humanly possible.

What would you like to see in the future for Resident Evil? Do you want a Revelations sequel? A remake of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City?

Let us know in the comments section below and for all things, Gaming, keep tuned to That Hashtag Show.

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