That Netflix Resident Evil ending, explained

Resident Evil has seen a handful of adaptations before, but Netflix’s new series might just be the best of the bunch. With a story that takes place across two different timelines separated by sixteen years, there are plenty of twists and turns along the way. But the ending to Season 1 of Resident Evil raises more questions than it answers — here’s what that could mean for a potential Season 2.

Where do Billie and Jade go next?

The last couple of episodes of Resident Evil prove earth-shattering for Jade and Billie. The first big revelation is that their father is actually a clone of Albert Wesker. What’s more, a second clone named Bert has been locked away by Umbrella all these years. Bert escapes and ends up helping Billie, Jade, and Albert.

After Umbrella recaptures Bert, Evelyn Marcus shows him a tank with a massive creature inside, which looks a lot like a Tyrant. These are incredibly powerful bioweapons that feature prominently in some of the series’ best games — Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. We don’t know how or why Umbrella in the Netflix series has a Tyrant, but it’s possible the creature could also be someone important like Evelyn’s father James Marcus, one of the founders of Umbrella.

By the end of Season 1, things have gone from bad to worse for the Wesker family. After breaking Billie and Albert out of the facility, the group is found by Umbrella. In a fit of delirium, Billie bites Simon, infecting him with the T-Virus. This makes Evelyn shoot her own son to “spare him” from becoming a monster, and makes her even more unhinged. As the group continues to escape, Albert sacrifices himself to let his daughters and Bert escape.

Lance Reddick, who plays Wesker, says he wants better things for Bert.

“I would like to see Bert have the opportunity to have a relationship with his nieces, and the opportunity to experience family,” he tells Inverse.

Albert writes down someone’s name on a slip of paper and tells Jade and Billie to seek out this person. Jade, Billie, and Bert escape New Racoon City, with the relationship between the sisters growing increasingly strained.

This will likely be a central conflict of the story moving forward.

“I want to see how Jade is dealing with Billie and her behavior, and Billie becoming a different person that’s outgoing and taking charge,” Tamara Smart tells Inverse. “To see how Jade reacts to that would be so interesting.”

In the wreckage of the Umbrella building, we see Evelyn wheeled out on a stretcher, and just behind her, the claw of the Tyrant bursts through the rubble. It might be an enemy Jade and Billie have to contend with in Season 2.

The final shot of the series shows what Albert wrote on the slip of paper, revealing the name Ada Wong and an address in Japan. Fans of the games will know that the elite spy had a close relationship with the original Albert Wesker, and it seems like that contact extended to the clone Albert. The last time Ada Wong appeared in the Prime Universe canon was with Resident Evil 6, which is set in the year 2013.

Why does Billie abduct Bea?

Most of the future timeline revolves around Umbrella trying to capture Jade, although we don’t actually find out the reason until near the end of the show. Billie’s blood is tainted by the T-Virus, so she needs Jade’s blood for some kind of plan. Past that, we don’t know the details.

In the final episode, The University unleashes the mutated alligator on Umbrella forces, but Jade and Arjun realize their daughter, Bea, has stolen a ship and gone to the island. The two rush off to find her and end up getting attacked by the alligator. Arjun’s leg is shattered and Jade is forced to leave him, although we never officially see his death.

At this point, Bea stumbles upon the alligator, but something incredibly strange happens. The monster seems to turn docile and even lets Bea pet it, suggesting that Jade has done something to Bea’s genes that let her control or commune with the infected in some way. Umbrella's chopper blows the alligator to smithereens and just as Jade reunites with her daughter, Billie finds out about Bea’s existence.

After some tense dialogue between the sisters, Billie tells Jade “I don’t need you anymore,” shoots her, and then abducts Bea. This presumably means that Billie can use Bea’s blood for whatever nefarious schemes she had planned for Jade. The final shot shows Jade struggling to get up and staring in anger as the helicopter with her daughter flies away.

Compared to the present timeline, it’s a pretty straightforward ending, suggesting that Jade’s next story will revolve around her quest to free her daughter. There are plenty of questions moving forward, however, like if Arjun is alive, or what Umbrella’s endgame really is.

As a final note, Jade’s actress Ella Balinksa gave Inverse an idea of where the character’s story could be going.

“Toward the end of the series we find Jade in this relentless, sort of absolute peak of retribution-seeking personality, that I cannot wait to unleash,” she explains.

What could happen in Season 2?

At the moment there hasn’t been an official confirmation for a Resident Evil Season 2. Of course, the big lingering question is how the worldwide outbreak started. We know Umbrella’s “Joy” drug contains the T-Virus, but Wesker states you’d need to take thousands of pills to become infected. Perhaps Billie could serve as the catalyst for the outbreak?

Showrunner Andrew Dabb says he has a basic outline of the series planned out, however.

“The story has kind of a planned out beginning, middle, and end. But how long that will take I couldn’t sit here and tell you. If we’re lucky enough to go to Season 2, and 3, and beyond, there’s just so many fun things in the cupboard,” Dabb tells Inverse.

For now, we’ll have to wait and see if Netflix decides to continue this story.

Resident Evil Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix.