Albert Wesker's surprise return for Netflix's didn't adapt the first Resident Evil game.
While followers of the Resident Evil games largely hated the changes the Milla Jovovich fronted movies made, they were also hugely profitable. In total, Anderson's Resident Evil series grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, with 2017's The Final Chapter marking the end. In 2021, a movie reboot called Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City arrived, and while it was much more accurate to the source material, it also received a mixed response and was a box-office dud. The next live-action take on the saga is Netflix's Resident Evil show, which is confirmed to take place in the same universe as the games.
According to showrunner Andrew Dabb in an EW interview, "The games are our backstory. Everything that happens in the games exists in this world." While it was believed Resident Evil 5, where he fell into a volcano and was then blown up with rockets. Wesker has remained dead in the games ever since, making his return for the Netflix show a major rule break.
In fact, shortly after Resident Evil 5's release, franchise producer Masachika Kawata told a crowd at San Diego Comic-Con (via Albert Wesker is one of the most iconic villains of the series, it's unlikely many will be upset at his return, even if Resident Evil 5 was supposed to be the absolute end of the villain.
In the years following his "death," the games also introduced his son Jake Muller and "sister" Alex, but there has been little hint Albert Wesker himself would return. The series has crafted other memorable antagonists such as Resident Evil 8's Alcina Dimitrescu, but it will be interesting to see Wesker's big comeback - and how exactly his unlikely resurrection will be explained in Netflix's Resident Evil.