Netflix cancels Resident Evil while House of the Dragon gets early renewal on HBO

Netflix has cancelled its Resident Evil show less than two months after first premiering it on the streaming platform.

As reported by Deadline, the horror series that was loosely based on the beloved video games of the same name will not be returning for season two, following a lacklustre critical and viewership response. Debuting on July 14th, 2022, Resident Evil attracted 72.7 million hours of streaming views, enough to push it to the number two spot on Netflix's rankings. 

It then dropped in the second week to third position with a further 73.3 million hours viewed, before then falling out of the top 10 altogether three weeks after release. These numbers were not considered good enough for Netflix, likely taking into account the show's budget as well as its poor Rotten Tomatoes score of 55% from critics and a dire 27% from audiences. 

Set in the year 2036 – 14 years after the spread of Joy, a deadly virus that caused so much pain, Jade Wesker (Ella Balinska) fights for survival in a world infested by zombies. Along with this, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s chilling connections to the sinister Umbrella Corporation but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie.

T3 has reached out to Netflix for comment.

Meanwhile, HBO has renewed House of the Dragon for a second series only five days after the Game of Thrones prequel launched. It has also become the largest audience for any new original series in HBO's entire history with the first episode being seen by more than 20 million people. 

"We are beyond proud of what the entire House of the Dragon team has accomplished with season one. Our phenomenal cast and crew undertook a massive challenge and exceeded all expectations, delivering a show that has already established itself as must-see-TV," said HBO Programming executive vice president Francesca Orsi.

"A huge thank you to George, Ryan, and Miguel for leading us on this journey. We couldn’t be more excited to continue bringing to life the epic saga of House Targaryen with season two." 

Picking up 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon follows House Targaryen during a difficult period. It sees king Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) in the run-up to naming his successor, better known as the "Dance of the Dragons". 

With Netflix already having made well over a dozen show cancellations throughout 2022 so far, it's refreshing to see a show like House of the Dragon get a renewal so early. Saying that, Warner Bros. did cancel a $90 million Batgirl movie after production was completed alongside Ellen DeGeneres' new show in recent weeks, so the company isn't exactly exempt from scrapping projects either. Sigh.

House of the Dragon stars Paddy Considine, Emma D'Arcy, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno and Rhys Ifans.