Netflix officially taking us back to Raccoon City with live-action 'Resident Evil' TV series

Netflix is heading to Raccoon City for its next original TV show. The streaming giant announced this morning that it will be adapting Capcom's best-selling Resident Evil video game franchise for the small screen. The project is being written by Supernatural producer Andrew Dabb, who is also serving as showrunner and executive producer. Bronwen Hughes (The Walking Dead, Away) is attached as director and executive producer for the first two episodes.

"Resident Evil is my favorite game of all time," Dabb said in a statement. "I'm incredibly excited to tell a new chapter in this amazing story and bring the first ever Resident Evil series to Netflix members around the world. For every type of Resident Evil fan, including those joining us for the first time, the series will be complete with a lot of old friends, and some things (bloodthirsty, insane things) people have never seen before."

In terms of plot, the show's story is set to unfold across two different timelines. The first timeline follows Jade and Billie Wesker, two teens who begrudgingly move to the "manufactured, corporate town" of Raccoon City. As time goes on, the siblings discover that their father is keeping secrets that could destroy the world. Longtime players of the games most likely recognize the surname "Wesker" as it ties back to Albert Wesker, one of the series' main antagonists.

The second timeline takes place more than a decade in the future when less than 15 million humans survive on Earth. The dominant species is a population of over six billion monsters infected with the T-virus. Now 30-years-old, Jade does her best to survive in this "New World," haunted by secrets of the past.

Check out the cover page of the pilot ("Welcome to Raccoon City") script below:

Robert Kulzer, Oliver Berben, and Mary Leah Sutton are also on board as executive producers.

The Resident Evil video game titles received six big budget film adaptations between 2002 and 2016. Interestingly, the first installment is a personal favorite of James Cameron's. Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element, Hellboy) appeared in the entire series — fighting off Umbrella Corporation zombies and monsters — as the central protagonist, Alice. Jason O'Mara and Shawn Roberts portrayed Wesker. Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon, Alien vs. Predator) helmed four of the six films, all of which made more than $1 billion at the global box office.

In December of 2018, Constantin Film confirmed that it was rebooting the IP with Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down) as director. The filmmaker offered an update on the project last summer, but that's where the trail went cold. While Constantin is producing the Netflix show (the company is clearly labeled on the pilot script's cover above), it's unclear whether the TV iteration is the same as the previously announced reboot.

A premiere date has yet to be announced. Season 1 will consist of eight, one-hour episodes.