Summary
- Netflix has added six Resident Evil movies, including three CG-animated films that are officially canon to the games.
- Damnation, Vendetta, and Death Island fill gaps between the main game installments rather than retelling their stories.
- The three live-action additions — Extinction, Afterlife, and Retribution — belong to a separate continuity and are not game canon.
Netflix has added three Resident Evil movies to its U.S. catalog. They do something the franchise’s live-action adaptations don’t, and that’s sticking to the games’ canon story. Resident Evil: Damnation, Resident Evil: Vendetta, and Resident Evil: Death Island are now available to stream.
They arrived one day after Netflix added the live-action Resident Evil: Extinction, Resident Evil: Afterlife, and Resident Evil: Retribution. However, those Milla Jovovich movies occupy a separate continuity and are not canon to the games. This six-film drop also comes just ahead of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, one of the major sci-fi and fantasy movies coming in 2026, which reaches theaters on September 18.
These movies fill the gaps between Resident Evil Games
You won’t be watching a montage of cutscenes that retell the story you already played
All three CG-animated movies are recognized as additions to Capcom’s established Resident Evil continuity. They feature the same versions of characters who appear in the games, including Leon, Chris, Jill, and Claire. Moreover, their events take place between the game installments rather than in an alternative universe.
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Resident Evil: Damnation |
Set in 2011, Damnation takes place after Resident Evil 5 and before Resident Evil 6. Leon travels to the fictional Eastern Slav Republic to investigate the military use of Bio-Organic Weapons, while Ada Wong pursues her own objective behind the scenes. |
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Resident Evil: Vendetta |
Set in 2014, following Resident Evil 6 but before Resident Evil 7, Vendetta brings Leon together with Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers. Their pursuit of bioweapons dealer Glenn Arias introduces another outbreak without rewriting anything from the games. |
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Resident Evil: Death Island |
This 2015 sequel to Vendetta also takes place before Resident Evil 7 and finally puts Leon, Chris, Jill, Claire, and Rebecca in the same mission. It also continues Jill’s story after the lasting physical and psychological damage inflicted on her in Resident Evil 5. |
Rather than being conventional video-game adaptations, these movies take an approach somewhat similar to Fallout, one of our recommended immersive science-fiction series. They expand an existing universe instead of rebuilding it for another medium, although the games remain the main attraction.
The timing should also introduce them to a larger audience. Cregger, whose Weapons helped make 2025 an exceptional year for horror, is about to deliver an entirely separate live-action take on the franchise. Anyone interested in that movie can now sample the characters and monsters from the continuity Capcom has maintained for decades.
Resident Evil’s timeline is all over the place, but Netflix has at least made it easier to find three missing chapters that take place between the games’ events.