Every Resident Evil Movie in Order: Live-Action, CG Films and Series

Resident Evil has been on screen since 2000, and it splits into four continuities that don't connect. Paul W. S. Anderson's six live-action films follow Alice, a character made for the films. Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) and Zach Cregger's Resident Evil (2026) are separate reboots. The CG films and the series Infinite Darkness are made with Capcom and slot into the games' own timeline, and the 2022 Netflix series sits in its own world. This guide lists every one in release order, with what each is about. Spoilers for each entry. (Resident Evil (2002 film); Resident Evil: Degeneration; Resident Evil (2026 film))

Release order#

Everything on screen, by first release:

1. Biohazard 4D-Executer (2000), CG short, Japan only. (Biohazard 4D-Executer)
2. Resident Evil (2002), Anderson series. (Resident Evil (2002 film))
3. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Anderson series. (Resident Evil: Apocalypse)
4. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Anderson series. (Resident Evil: Extinction)
5. Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008), CG, game canon. (Resident Evil: Degeneration)
6. Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Anderson series. (Resident Evil: Afterlife)
7. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), Anderson series. (Resident Evil: Retribution)
8. Resident Evil: Damnation (2012), CG, game canon. (Resident Evil: Damnation)
9. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), Anderson series. (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter)
10. Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017), CG, game canon. (Resident Evil: Vendetta)
11. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021), CG series, game canon. (Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness)
12. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), reboot. (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)
13. Resident Evil (2022), Netflix series, own continuity. (Resident Evil (2022 series))
14. Resident Evil: Death Island (2023), CG, game canon. (Resident Evil: Death Island)
15. Resident Evil (2026), reboot. (Resident Evil (2026 film))

Paul W. S. Anderson's films (2002 to 2016)#

Anderson wrote all six and directed four. Milla Jovovich plays Alice, a former security operative for the Umbrella Corporation, and game characters drift in and out around her. The films start close to the games and end in a world almost wiped out by the T-virus. (Resident Evil (2002 film); Resident Evil: The Final Chapter)

Resident Evil (2002)#

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Alice wakes with no memory in a mansion above the Hive, an Umbrella laboratory under Raccoon City. A thief has released the T-virus inside, and the facility's computer, the Red Queen, has sealed it and killed the staff. An Umbrella commando team takes Alice and Matt Addison down into the Hive, where the dead staff have risen and a Licker is loose. Alice and Matt get out, but Umbrella takes them away, and Alice wakes in an empty hospital to find the city overrun. Our Resident Evil (2002) explainer covers the full plot and ending. (Resident Evil (2002 film))

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)#

Directed by Alexander Witt, written by Anderson. Raccoon City is sealed off as the outbreak spreads. Alice, now enhanced by Umbrella, teams up with Jill Valentine, the Umbrella soldier Carlos Olivera and others to rescue the daughter of Umbrella scientist Charles Ashford in exchange for a way out. Umbrella sends the Nemesis, which turns out to be Matt, mutated. The city is destroyed by a nuclear strike, and Umbrella captures Alice again. Our Apocalypse explainer covers the full plot and ending. (Resident Evil: Apocalypse)

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)#

Directed by Russell Mulcahy. Years later the virus has turned the world into desert. Alice, now with psychic powers, travels alone and joins a convoy led by Claire Redfield. Umbrella's Dr. Isaacs has been cloning Alice to find a cure. He is bitten, injects himself with an antivirus overdose and mutates into a Tyrant, and Alice kills him in a Nevada lab. The survivors fly north to Alaska, and Alice wakes an army of her own clones and vows to come for Umbrella's chairman, Albert Wesker. Our Extinction explainer covers the full plot and ending. (Resident Evil: Extinction)

Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010)#

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Alice and her clones attack Umbrella's Tokyo headquarters, and Wesker strips her powers away. In Alaska she finds Claire with no memory, and in Los Angeles they join survivors in a prison, among them Claire's brother Chris Redfield. The promised safe haven, Arcadia, turns out to be an Umbrella ship. They free the people held on board and fight Wesker, but an Umbrella fleet arrives with a mind-controlled Jill. Our Afterlife explainer covers the full plot and ending. (Resident Evil: Afterlife)

Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)#

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Alice wakes inside an Umbrella test facility under the ice off Kamchatka, which uses clones and copies of cities to test outbreaks. Ada Wong, now working for Wesker, helps her escape, and a team including Leon S. Kennedy and Barry Burton breaks in from outside. The Red Queen has taken control of Umbrella and turned on humanity. Wesker gives Alice her powers back at the White House, the last human stronghold. Our Retribution explainer covers the full plot and ending. (Resident Evil: Retribution)

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)#

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. The Red Queen tells Alice that the Hive holds an airborne antivirus that can kill every infected creature, and she has 48 hours to release it. Alice returns to Raccoon City, meets Claire again and faces Isaacs and Wesker. She learns she is a clone of Alicia Marcus, the daughter of Umbrella's co-founder. Alice releases the antivirus and survives with Alicia's memories. Our Final Chapter explainer covers the full plot and ending. (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter)

The reboots (2021 and 2026)#

Both reboots go back to the start of the outbreak in Raccoon City and ignore Anderson's films and each other. Our Welcome to Raccoon City explainer and 2026 film explainer go through each in full. (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City; Resident Evil (2026 film))

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)#

Written and directed by Johannes Roberts. In 1998 Claire Redfield returns to Raccoon City to warn her brother about Umbrella. On one night, Chris, Jill and Wesker search the Spencer Mansion while Claire and the rookie officer Leon S. Kennedy hold out at the Raccoon City Police Department. William Birkin injects himself with his own virus and mutates. The survivors escape on a train under the Umbrella facility before the city is destroyed at dawn. (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City)

Resident Evil (2026)#

Directed by Zach Cregger, who wrote it with Shay Hatten. Bryan, a medical courier, drives a package to the hospital in Raccoon City as the outbreak begins. On the way he is attacked by infected people who fuse into a growing mass of bodies, and he meets two Umbrella staff who tell him his package is a stabiliser needed for a cure. He reaches the hospital's lab after being bitten and delivers it, but mutates as the cure is made and loses it. (Resident Evil (2026 film))

CG films and series#

Apart from the early 4D-Executer short, these are made with Capcom as game canon and sit in the gaps between the main games. Our CG films guide covers each in more depth. (Resident Evil: Degeneration; Resident Evil: Death Island)

Biohazard 4D-Executer (2000)#

Directed by Koichi Ohata. A 20-minute CG film made for theme park attractions in Japan. A squad is sent into a zombie-filled Raccoon City to find a missing scientist. It was never released outside Japan, and its place in the timeline is loose. (Biohazard 4D-Executer)

Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)#

Directed by Makoto Kamiya. Set in 2005, it opens with a T-virus outbreak at Harvardville Airport. Leon and Claire are caught up in it, and the trail leads to the drug company WilPharma. A grieving activist, Curtis Miller, injects himself with the G-virus and has to be stopped. (Resident Evil: Degeneration)

Resident Evil: Damnation (2012)#

Directed by Makoto Kamiya. Set in 2011, Leon goes into the Eastern Slav Republic during a civil war and finds the rebels using Las Plagas to control Lickers. The country's president is behind a plan to use Tyrants against them, and Ada Wong is there for her own reasons. (Resident Evil: Damnation)

Resident Evil: Vendetta (2017)#

Directed by Takanori Tsujimoto. Set in 2014, Chris Redfield chases an arms dealer called Glenn Arias, who plans to release a new virus in New York. Chris, Leon and Rebecca Chambers, who has been working on a cure, team up to stop him. (Resident Evil: Vendetta)

Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness (2021)#

Directed by Eiichiro Hasumi, four episodes on Netflix. Set in 2006, after a hack on the White House. Leon investigates a cover-up linked to a zombie incident in a war zone years earlier, while Claire follows the trail of drawings by a child refugee. (Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness)

Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)#

Directed by Eiichiro Hasumi. Set in 2015, it brings Leon, Chris, Jill, Claire and Rebecca together on Alcatraz, where a man with a grudge has been spreading a modified T-virus. Capcom billed it as the first time all five team up, and Jill is still dealing with what Wesker made her do. (Resident Evil: Death Island)

The Netflix series (2022)#

Netflix's live-action series ran for one season of eight episodes before it was cancelled. Our Netflix series guide covers it in full. (Resident Evil (2022 series))

Resident Evil (2022)#

Created by Andrew Dabb. The story alternates between 2022, when Jade and Billie Wesker move to Umbrella's company town of New Raccoon City, and 2036, when the world has fallen to the T-virus and an adult Jade is trying to survive. Lance Reddick plays Albert Wesker, revealed to be one of several clones. It uses the games as its backstory but tells its own story. (Resident Evil (2022 series))

Story order for the game canon#

If you only want what counts for the games, watch these in this order:

1. Resident Evil: Degeneration, set in 2005. (Resident Evil: Degeneration)
2. Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, set in 2006. (Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness)
3. Resident Evil: Damnation, set in 2011. (Resident Evil: Damnation)
4. Resident Evil: Vendetta, set in 2014. (Resident Evil: Vendetta)
5. Resident Evil: Death Island, set in 2015. (Resident Evil: Death Island)

For where these fall between the games, see the Resident Evil timeline and the games in order. (Resident Evil: Degeneration; Resident Evil: Death Island)