sisslethecat
Everyone’s been going nuts at the possibility that Umbrella Corps., the new multiplayer shooter set in the RE universe, drops a bunch of hints as to the return of the series’ signature evil resident. Cheers of joy from one side, salty and fiercely fighting the very idea of him returning on the other. I’m sort of in the middle – I was fine with his death in Resident Evil 5, although I would have liked his ultimate plan to be something more interesting than the ravings of a madman who wants to turn everybody into tentacle people. It also doesn’t seem like a particularly far stretch to resurrect this character for a second time, especially considering that almost all of his backstory is retroactive canon (the Wesker Children, Alex Wesker, his freaking son Jake, not to mention having already died and been brought back before).
D.C. Douglas, the voice actor behind the character in every title since 2008’s The Umbrella Chronicles (and has since become the definitive, iconic voice of the character), who not only reprises Wesker in the game’s multiplayer mode but also plays the voice of the player’s avatar soldier, has come out and talked about what he knows regarding the future of the character. On his blog, dcdouglas.com, he elaborates:
“After I finished my Wesker session I asked point blank if Albert Wesker was back. They smiled and said ‘We have no idea. And we wouldn’t. We’re only working on this game.'”
Douglas goes on to say that while recording, he was told that the game was non-canon, and was just as surprised as the rest of us when the game’s producer said:
The game is not a hypothetical, “what-if” side scenario. Umbrella Corps is set in the present day of Resident Evil, which means it’s after the events of Resident Evil 6.
It’s important to note that only the multiplayer of Umbrella Corps. takes place in modern day, and that the multiplayer is also the only place Wesker actually appears in during the game. Douglas, unfortunately, doesn’t have any more answers for us beyond this, as he is just the actor, and not involved with writing at all. Personally, he’s not really convinced Wesker is back, either, especially since he has yet to be contacted by the Resident Evil 7 team- but he holds out hope:
Make of that what you will, then… But the Resident Evil 7 production team, as of this writing, has not booked me for any voiceover work. So, while Wesker fans can hope (no one hoping more than I), it’s 99% doubtful he returns in RE7.
My take is that Wesker’s appearance in Umbrella Corps is more of an easter egg than anything. But what do I know? I’m just a voice actor.
So there you have it. Umbrella Corps. isn’t doing so hot, on either the review scale, or the sales, much to Douglas’ lament, but it is interesting that the game drops so many out of left field Weskery things. There’s already dozens of fan theories popping up, trying to figure out a way for Wesker to still be alive. I still wouldn’t put it past Capcom to bring him back (especially considering how mustache-twirlingly awful every villain since Wesker’s demise has been). For now, we can assume Wesker is dead – in a similar fashion to Star Wars‘ Boba Fett being dead. There’s nothing to say he’s officially alive, but there’s a lot of weird and obvious references to him in the new Disney canon that he might be.
Oh, and D.C. has one last thing to say to the haters, and I agree with him:
[Source]
