Netflix’s Resident Evil: 9 Easter Eggs You Won’t Want to Miss

The new Resident Evil show on Netflix may be worth watching or not depending on who you ask given that its Rotten Tomatoes score keeps jumping around all over the place, but one thing is certain if you do give it a shot: You’ll find plenty of Easter eggs buried within. Some of those are more obvious ones that’ll be recognizable to anyone who’s dabbled in Resident Evil games in the past while others consist of deeper cuts that happen so quickly you may think that you were just hearing or seeing things if you aren’t paying attention closely enough.

During our review of Resident Evil, we, too, were on the lookout for these sorts of Easter eggs and were delighted to find as many as we did. Regardless of what score you’d give the show, it’s evident from seeing these Easter eggs that the creators looked to pull from a multitude of past Resident Evil moments which were allowed for by the show’s futuristic setting as far as the Resident Evil timeline goes.

With that in mind, you can see below nine of our favorite Easter eggs found throughout the first season of Resident Evil. Some things that could be considered Easter eggs are really more like outright plot points such as pivotal main characters referenced that’ll likely become more relevant later as the show (possibly) grows after this, so we’ve omitted those here in favor of the less critical but still interesting finds. Again, some of them are more obvious than others, but be sure to check out the list below before, during, or after your first Season 1 watch to see if you can spot them all.

Note that these Easter egg discussions naturally contain spoilers for the show that only get worse the further we get into the list given that they’re listed in order of appearance, though we’ve obscured some of the later spoilers for those who might not have gotten that far yet. If you’ve got a favorite Easter egg included in this list or not listed here at all, be sure to let us know in the comments.

The “Grave Digger” Worm – Episode 1

In the very first episode of Resident Evil, we see the version of Jade Wesker set further in the future narrowly escape a horde of Zombies that pursued her back to her camp. Right when everything seems to calm down, the earth shakes, and a giant, mutated arthropod erupts from the ground to give Jade one last threat to contend with.

It’s a moment that shows the scope of the issues the survivors face, but it also appears to be a callback to a previous enemy from the games called the “Grave Digger.” It was present in the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and while not exactly the same here in the show, it’s a close enough mutation that it’s likely this is what the creators were going for while still doing their own thing with it. You’ll see that method of interpretation several times throughout the show.

Mutated Dog and Spider – Episodes 1 and 3

These are technically two different Easter eggs found in separate episodes, but given that they achieve the same goal of being callbacks to normal, recurring enemies from the games, we’ve lumped them into one Easter egg here. Resident Evil features a mutated dog in the first episode and a mutated spider in the third one with the former being a more central plot device while the latter again serves as a reference to enemies from the past games.

As Resident Evil players will know, the mutated dogs are plentiful and bothersome across a number of games given their erratic behavior and tendencies towards jump scares. The spiders aren’t as common, but they’re still not boss-level enemies. They’re found in Resident Evil 0, and like the show, they have a tendency to inhabit the sewers which makes for a nice, thoughtful touch whenever they do make their appearances in the show.

Lickers – Episode 3

Again, this is one of the more obvious ones, but what Easter egg list would be complete without referencing one of the most menacing creatures from the Resident Evil bestiary?

Lickers, for the uninitiated, are humans that have undergone such severe mutations that they look far more deformed compared to the normal zombie. They’ve got no skin and no eyes which makes for quite the sight when you run into them in situations like the cast of the show does, and they hunt via sound and through the use of their tongues which can easily skewer and abduct people from the shadows. 

Hydra Shotgun – Episode 3

This is one of the ones that might stick in your head as something you know you’ve seen somewhere even if you can’t quite place where it came from. In the third episode – the same one with the Lickers – the bald, tattooed character who escorts Jade and company through the sewers is armed with a weapon to fend off the Lickers. It proves to be pretty ineffective, but it’s a neat find for those fond of Resident Evil 5. 

Based on the gun’s appearance and function alone, it appears that it’s a Hydra shotgun. That was a weapon featured in Resident Evil 5 and was a triple-barrel shotgun players can acquire and upgrade during their playthroughs. It was never named in the show, but it’s a pretty clear reference to that weapon.

Chainsaw Guy – Episode 4

In what was one of the coolest Easter eggs to find in Resident Evil, we see at one point a character wielding a chainsaw with a bag over their head. It happens in the fourth episode during a tense moment where Jade and her reluctant partner, Baxter, are trapped in a prison by a cult.

The “Chainsaw Guy” as he’s been dubbed over the years is most recognizable from Resident Evil 4 where he wears a burlap sack of sorts over his head just like he does here in the show. One key difference here is that despite the prevalence of zombies inside the prison, the coordination and responsiveness of this character suggests that he’s a person and not a member of the undead. Still, it’s one of the most obvious Easter eggs you’ll find in the show, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting.

Red9 – Episode 4

Another Easter egg from the same episode as Chainsaw Guy is the appearance of yet another weapon from the Resident Evil arsenal. Once we find out that Baxter isn’t a buffoon as his character’s behavior might’ve suggested previously, we see the Umbrella operative whip out two handguns before he starts unloading on some zombies. It’s one of the show’s more action-packed, thrilling moments, and it’s made even better by looking closer at the weapons.

Judging from the unique shape of the weapon and particularly its longer barrel, it looks like these are most definitely Red9s like the ones seen in Resident Evil 4. The Red9 is a favorite for many among the handgun options in Resident Evil 4, so it’s a welcome sight for those familiar with that game. 

Typewriter/Safe Room – Episode 4

In yet another Easter egg found in the fourth episode of the Resident Evil show, we see Jade finally get a moment of peace away from the zombies. It’s not a happy moment given how dire things seem, but it’s a moment for viewers to notice two interesting setpieces: A safe room and a typewriter.

The safe room – the location where players can know they’re safe from the zombies until they venture out again – is recognizable by the heavy door with iron bars on the windows. When Jade slumps down in defeat, we see a brief shot of a typewriter sitting on a desk. The typewriters have historically been used to save games inside of these safe rooms in past Resident Evil games.  

P30 Device – Episode 7

Later on in the show, we see Lance Reddick’s Albert Wesker asking for an update on something referred to as a chest-mounted device. It’s a one-off line that you’ll miss if you weren’t paying attention, but given the timeline established during this scene, it seems he’s referring to the P30 device used to control Jill Valentine.

This particular scene takes place in 2005, but we don’t learn about the P30’s influence over Jill until 2009 in Resident Evil 5. The video above shows the full fight against Jill during that game where it’s revealed that the device was used on her for years. given the gap between the scene and the show and Resident Evil 5, it makes sense that this is the device Wesker referred to.

Mutated Alligator – Episode 8

You definitely can’t miss this creature’s appearance in the Resident Evil show, but if you didn’t play the past games, it might look a bit wilder than it already does in Netflix’s adaptation. This mutated alligator was meant to be a last-resort weapon in the show, but its first appearance in the games was much different.

In Resident Evil 2, the alligator, like the spider referenced previously, was a result of mutations brought on by Umbrella’s mishandling of the t-Virus. It was found in the sewers of Raccoon City, too, and was one of the game’s more atypical moments compared to the normal zombie threats players encountered. It’s certainly not the same gator as the one seen in the show, but the creators could’ve picked any sort of animal and still chose an alligator, so again, the implications here are clear.