The Resident Evil franchise came to life in 1996, where it quickly exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. It not only spawned a series of games, anime, movies, and endless other merchandising opportunities – but helped create the survival horror genre of gaming as we know it today.
Now we know there was once also going to be a television series thrown into the mix with the title Arklay. A pilot for the series called DAVE was recently uploaded to Vimeo. It follows a detective named Reinhardt as he works to solve the case of his brother’s death. There aren’t any direct references to the games, but there are a few nods, with the plan being for the series to function as a prequel to the games.
The project was first announced in 2014, and would’ve seen Reinhardt taken to Raccoon City with a series of gruesome deaths to lead him on his way. Reinhardt would eventually be infected with the T-Virus, and stuck in a race against time to find the cure. Unfortunately with the way the footage has surfaced, it’s possible the series is dead in the water.
At the end of the video there is a link to a website named grimrasputinisdead.com, which urges viewers to dig further into the mysteries of the series. But for now it looks like the project is dead in the water.
At any rate, there seems to be plans for the Resident Evil film franchise to be rebooted now that The Final Chapter has concluded the previous saga. There’s also been a recent animated movie.
Maybe the newly released footage will renew interest in the series, or the new film could take inspiration from the pilot instead. Either way, with the success of the game Resident Evil VII, it may be in everyone’s best interest to continue the dark moody atmosphere of this cancelled series than the exaggerated action sequences of the films.
What do you think, should they have continued Arklay and the story of Reinhardt? Let us know in the comments section below!