Why Albert Wesker From Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City Looks So Familiar
The "Resident Evil" games are some of the scariest console games ever made, as players have been terrified by the zombies, monsters, and bizarre creatures created by the Umbrella Corporation since the first game debuted back in 1996. Hollywood came calling in the early 2000s, with Milla Jovovich playing super-powered amnesiac Alice in Paul W. S. Anderson's "Resident Evil." But the franchise played fast-and-loose with the source material, and it quickly became a separate beast.
The upcoming reboot, "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," more closely follows the arc of the Capcom games. The movie heavily focuses on the array of characters who show up in the first two titles in the Capcom franchise. It combines the Spencer mansion storyline in the 1996 game "Resident Evil" with the Raccoon City Police Department plot of 1998's "Resident Evil 2." So, while Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell) and Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen) investigate the sprawling mansion, Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) and Leon Kennedy (Avian Jogia) fight to stay alive in the Raccoon City Police Department building.
But Chris and Jill aren't the only ones hunting the undead in the Spencer Mansion. The pair are also joined by the infamous villain, Albert Wesker. He's a recurring bad guy throughout the franchise, and Sony is clearly setting the stage for his larger role going forward. Actor Tom Hopper plays Wesker in the new reboot. Here's why he looks so familiar.
Tom Hopper plays a knight on Merlin
One of Tom Hopper's big, early roles came in BBC's "Merlin," the 2008 fantasy series which charts the younger years of the famous sorcerer from British mythology. The show, which also aired on NBC for U.S. viewers, stars Colin Morgan as the titular wizard as he tries to keep his magic a secret from the king while also working to keep Arthur (Bradley James) alive. The series was met with widespread praise, and it holds an 85% critic rating and an 88% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hopper joined the cast in Season 3 (via IMDb) as Sir Percival, one of the Knights of Camelot who defends the realm alongside Arthur, Sir Lancelot (Santiago Cabrera), Sir Gwaine (Eoin Macken), and others. Percival has plenty of adventures in Seasons 4 and 5 as Hopper's role was expanded considerably following Season 3. He has an emotional end to the series after he fails to save his friend, Gwaine, from Morgana (Katie McGrath).
He plays a dimwitted swordsman on Game of Thrones
Tom Hopper joined HBO's "Game of Thrones" in 2017, during the show's seventh season. He made his first appearance in the Season 7 episode "Stormborn" (via IMDb) as Dickon Tarly, Samwell Tarly's (John Bradley) younger brother. Dickon is the heir to House Tarly after his brother is exiled to the Night's Watch in Season 1. Dickon constantly wants to please his steely father, Randyll Tarly (James Faulkner). It's a solid performance from Hopper, who is quietly hilarious as the slightly stupid swordsman. The Tarly heir later joins the Lannister's war with House Tyrell in Season 7, which is ultimately his downfall; this alliance puts House Tarly at odds with Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) when she arrives in Westeros.
Although the dimwitted Tarly son survives the Dothraki ambush, he's taken prisoner by Daenerys' forces, and she tries to get Randyll to bend the knee — which, foolishly, he doesn't do. But before Drogon can barbecue the head of House Tarly, Dickon decides to join him because he doesn't want to be without his father. Because of that, he's incinerated by the terrifying dragon, too. Poor Dickon, he definitely deserved better.
Tom Hopper is a superhero on The Umbrella Academy
Tom Hopper is one of the leads in Netflix's "The Umbrella Academy," based on the comics series of the same name written by Gerard Way. It follows a group of aging superheroes who try to solve the mystery surrounding their adopted father's death. However, their bizarre childhood with Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) has damaged them all emotionally and mentally in a variety of ways. Hopper plays Luther Hargreeves, aka Number One. He possesses super strength, and he is the only one who stays behind to work with his father after his siblings leave home.
However, one of Luther's missions left him horrifically injured, and Reginald uses an experimental formula to heal him. This procedure enhances his torso and arms, giving him an ape-like appearance. Fun fact: In the comics, Reginald grafts Luther's head to the body of a Martian Ape instead of injecting him with a serum to save his life. In the Netflix series, Luther helps the rest of his siblings try and stop the impending apocalypse — only to be thrown back in time to Dallas, Texas, in 1962 at the start of Season 2.
When he lands in the past, he starts working as muscle to win illegal fights for his bar-owner boss — before trying to stop the apocalypse again with the rest of the Umbrella Academy. Luther is fiercely loyal to the rest of his family, but he also resents the fact that he wasted his life by going on missions for his father when he could've been out living his life. Hopper's performance balances that tragic hero line with ease, and hopefully, he'll get even more of the spotlight when "The Umbrella Academy" Season 3 arrives on Netflix.
He's a vicious soldier in SAS: Rise of the Black Swan
The actor recently appeared in "SAS: Rise of the Black Swan" opposite Ruby Rose, Sam Heughan, Andy Serkis, Tom Wilkinson, and "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" co-star Hannah John-Kamen. The action-thriller follows Tom Buckingham (Heughan), a SAS operator forced to fight the Black Swan group on the Channel Tunnel train to France after the private military contractors hold it hostage when the U.K. government betrays them. However, Buckingham is a literal psychopath, so things like violence and death don't affect him emotionally, which makes him a perfect soldier.
Tom Hopper plays Buckingham's best friend on his squad, Declan Smith, and the two are an incredibly effective team on the battlefield. However, it's later revealed that Declan is a mole within the SAS for the leader of the Black Swan group, directly feeding Grace Lewis (Ruby Rose) intel about their operations. This makes for an interesting dynamic between the two, as the betrayal really stings Buckingham when he discovers the truth.
But, what really stings is the critical reception to "SAS: Rise of the Black Swan" because the reviews weren't kind. Paul Bradshaw wrote about the thriller for NME, saying, "['SAS: Rise of the Black Swan'] is so close to being fun that it's a real shame to see it let down by a lousy script, lazy directing, and enough army cliches to fill a dozen 'Call Of Duty' cutscenes." Ouch.
Let's hope "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" is more fun when it arrives in theaters on November 24.