Capcom’s survival horror video game franchise Resident Evil celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2021 with its first-ever television adaptation, which comes courtesy of international streaming giant Netflix, ScreenRant reports. The streamer recently released the story details of Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness, CG anime series that tells a new story which features the characters Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Those who played the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 will immediately recognize the voices of Leon and Claire in the English dub of Infinite Darkness, as Netflix has brought the game’s two lead voice actors aboard to revisit their roles for the anime, as reported by The A.V. Club.
Nick Apostolides (The Suffering, The Fixers) and Stephanie Panisello (The EZ Show, Shing!) lead the cast of the dub as Leon and Claire, respectively, according to IGN. Panisello’s latest pinned tweet is message of gratitude addressed to Capcom and Netflix wherein she imparts that she and Apostolides are already hard at work on the anime. Read her post below:
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness allegedly takes place during the late 2000’s in America’s capital: “[The show] will feature Leon battling… the undead in the actual presidential residence,” via The A.V. Club. Claire, too, is in D.C., albeit for an entirely different reason: “[She] visits the White House to request the construction of welfare facility. There she has a chance reunion with Leon,” per the synopsis reprinted by ScreenRant.
Scenes between Leon and Claire outside of the games are reportedly few and far between. Prior to the Netflix anime series, their most recent onscreen union was in the 2008 animated film Resident Evil: Degeneration, according to ScreenRant. Similar to the anime, the events of that movie rely on the two characters coincidentally meeting in public place, ScreenRant reports. Hiroyuki Kobayashi (Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, Killer7), the producer of Degeneration, is credited as the executive producer on Infinite Darkness, as reported by IGN. Yūko Kaida (The Promised Neverland, Gintama), who provided Claire’s voice in the original Japanese-language versions of the Resident Evil 2 remake as well as Degeneration, will also reprise her role for Infinite Darkness, according to Anime News Network. Although Leon’s Japanese voice actor Toshiyuki Morikawa (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Genesis of Aquarion) may not have voiced the character in Degeneration, he did provide the rookie cop-turned-federal agent’s voice in the 2012 sequel film Resident Evil: Damnation, as well as in the Resident Evil 2 remake.
Netflix’s other Resident Evil project in progress is an eight-part live-action show centered around the children of the series’ primary antagonist Albert Wesker, Entertainment Weekly reports.