James Wan nearly produced Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City was a total reboot of the series, and promised to be much more faithful to its gaming source material. While it carried a more overt horror tone and included fan-favorite characters and monsters, it was a major letdown. It suffered from too many subplots and lacklustre CGI effects in addition to stilted performances and dialogue.
Welcome To Raccoon City wasn't the original plan for a Resident Evil reboot, however. Instead, Mortal Kombat 2021 screenwriter Greg Russo wrote a horror-focused screenplay that used 2017 game horror auteur James Wan, who in addition to creating series like Saw and The Conjuring, has produced countless genre efforts such as Lights Out. This is the direction a Resident Evil reboot needed and it could have steered the films in the right direction.
Wan's Resident Evil Plan Was A Game Sequel
The Wan and Russo Resident Evil script has largely been kept under wraps, but it would have fused the movies and games together. Russo revealed in 2022 on Resident Evil: Village would later serve as a direct game sequel to Biohazard, while injecting more action - and new fan-favorite villain Lady Dimitrescu.
Had this Resident Evil film reboot followed the games, this would have been a rare merging of a game series with its movie adaptation. Welcome To Raccoon City certainly attempted to carry over the game's tone, but considering 2017's Biohazard had a pretty solid story, it would have been intriguing to see a film sequel build off it. It's a pity unfounded concerns over the game's commercial performance nixed the concept. With Wan's guidance (it feels unlikely he would have directed it), he could have re-envisioned Resident Evil as a horror franchise on the big screen, while making the game and films feel connected to each other.
Resident Evil's Live-Action Future Is Uncertain
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City was greeted with negative reviews and mediocre box office. While a sequel isn't totally out of the question, it seems doubtful given its tepid response. Faring worst on a critical level was Netflix's Resident Evil TV series. This ambitious show juggled two timelines, but its lack of faithfulness - despite featuring tenuous links to the games - and bad writing saw that even though it initially performed well, Netflix canceled it after one season. With both live-action reinventions of the series flopping, the future of Resident Evil on the big or small screen is in question.
Speaking with THR in October 2022, Constantin Film - who have produced the movies since the first entry in 2002 - heads Oliver Berben and Martin Moskowicz stated they had "big plans" for the future of Resident Evil. They proclaimed the series "by far the most successful franchise" they've ever produced. That means fans will likely learn of the next reboot sooner rather than later. It wouldn't be the worst plan to revisit the James Wan/Greg Russo direction, especially considering the success of the recent games.
