Albert Wesker
is a character in the Resident Evil survival horror video game series created by the Japanese company Capcom. He was first introduced in the original Resident Evil as the captain of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service unit of the Raccoon Police Department. Wesker has been one of the series' main antagonists as a member of the pharmaceutical conglomerate Umbrella Corporation, the primary antagonistic faction, manipulating story events behind the scenes. To further his own plans, Wesker betrays his allies, fakes his death, gains superhuman abilities, and works with both Umbrella's mysterious rival company and their successors in the field of biological weapons development until his ultimate defeat by Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar in Resident Evil 5.
Wesker appears in several Resident Evil games, novelizations, and films and has also appeared in other game franchises, including Marvel vs. Capcom, Teppen, and Dead by Daylight. In his first appearance, Wesker was voiced by Pablo Kuntz, while D. C. Douglas voiced the character across most of his other appearances; in Japanese dubbings, Jouji Nakata has consistently voiced the character across all of his video game appearances. Several actors have portrayed Wesker, including Jason O'Mara, Shawn Roberts, Tom Hopper, and Lance Reddick, in the live-action Resident Evil films and television series.
Wesker was conceptualized by writer Kenichi Iwao, who envisioned Wesker as an arrogant, intelligent, and unsympathetic character. Wesker is presented as a virologist focused on advancing human evolution and later becomes a bio-terrorist obsessed with eradicating humanity. He possesses superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and regeneration, and he mutates into a more powerful form in Resident Evil 5. Wesker has received mostly positive reviews from video game publications, with critics praising him for being one of the most memorable video game villains, particularly his death, but critiquing him for appearing as a one-dimensional and stereotypical villain.
Concept and design
Albert Wesker is an American of Caucasian descent. He was created by director Shinji Mikami and designer Isao Ohishi. The main characters were originally intended to be cyborg police officers, until writer Kenichi Iwao discarded the idea and completely redesigned the characters and the game's backstory. He envisioned Wesker as a former special forces member who possessed exceptional intelligence and physical prowess, with a cold demeanor that matched his egotistical mindset. His co-workers suggested making the character a traitor who betrays the protagonist. The game's designers ultimately developed Wesker into the commander of the protagonists' elite police task force, who is secretly employed as a virologist for the Umbrella Corporation. His drive to develop viral agents and engineer the ultimate lifeform is a central plotline in the Resident Evil series. Wesker is depicted as a white male with blonde hair in the video games and movies. Designer Jun Takeuchi helped create Wesker's in-game character model in the first Resident Evil. He suggested giving Wesker a pair of black sunglasses to help differentiate him from the other characters, which became a staple of his appearance throughout the series.During the finale of Resident Evil 5, Wesker fully sheds his human appearance when he infects himself with the Uroboros virus, a volatile and mutagenic viral agent. The Uroboros virus grants him more strength while also transforming his arms into tentacles that allow him to absorb and wield metallic objects as weapons. The early concept sketches of his Uroboros mutation differed significantly from the final version. In the initial design, his combat style would have relied solely on his mental powers to manipulate Uroboros. This concept was shaped by the one-on-one battle between Wesker and Chris Redfield, without a co-op partner. However, with the addition of Sheva Alomar as a co-op partner, adjustments were made to bolster Wesker's abilities and provide him with additional makeshift weaponry for the final boss battle. Following Wesker's demise, producer Masachika Kawata stated that there was no possibility of the character returning.
Voice-over and live-action actors
Wesker was originally voiced by Pablo Kuntz, who said that Capcom's staff gave him limited direction and that he did not fully understand the game's plot at the time of recording. He later reflected on his performance, stating: "I know the acting was slightly over-the-top, but you know, the more we played RE1, the more the voices seemed to harmonize with everything the gameplay offered". He was also surprised at the character's popularity among fans, commenting that it was "a wonderful experience" to voice him.Peter Jessop voiced the character in the 2002 remake of Resident Evil and a recreational arcade game released solely in Japan. Wesker was next voiced by Richard Waugh in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica. His performance of Wesker was influenced by George Sanders, particularly his role as Shere Khan in The Jungle Book. He wanted to give the character a "precise and inhuman" speech pattern by speaking with a "military-type" tone and never using contractions. He reprised his role in Weskers Report, a fictional documentary detailing Wesker's backstory, as well as Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil 4. He also provided voice recordings in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, but they were replaced by D. C. Douglas's recordings before launch.
Douglas then voiced Wesker in Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, Resident Evil Zero HD Remaster, Resident Evil: Revelations 2, Umbrella Corps, Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, and Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
Ken Lally provided a motion capture for Wesker in Resident Evil 5. In the 2023 remake of Resident Evil 4, he was voiced and motion captured by Craig Burnatowski. Eric Pirius portrayed Wesker in the Resident Evil live-action cutscenes. In Resident Evil: Extinction, Jason O'Mara portrayed Wesker, and Shawn Roberts portrayed him in Resident Evil: Afterlife, Resident Evil: Retribution, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. Tom Hopper portrayed Wesker in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. He explained that the filmmakers did not want Wesker "to be a stereotypical villain, we wanted him to be likable. We're seeing who he really is underneath the sunglasses."
In the 2022 Resident Evil Netflix series, Lance Reddick portrayed the character; he was the first person of color to do so. The series' showrunners did not want to limit themselves to actors who resembled Wesker's in-game appearance; showrunner Andrew Dabb stated that "you're making the show weaker by going with someone that may be more aesthetically a match to the game." Reddick did not know that the character was from a video game series, stating: "When I was doing it, I didn't think of having to play an already established iconic character, I just kept trying to bring what was on the page to life". He further said, "This Wesker, although very very much based on the Wesker in the games, isn't exactly him".
Appearances
In the ''Resident Evil'' series
Every game in the series is set in the fictional American metropolitan area of Raccoon City until its destruction at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Wesker's presence was initially limited to cutscenes in the main Resident Evil games, where he manipulates the series' events from the background. He leverages his genius-level intellect to engineer mutagenic viruses to forcefully advance human evolution. Wesker's backstory was largely left undeveloped until the release of The Wesker Report, a fictional documentary that details his virology research and role within the Umbrella Corporation. Resident Evil 5 reveals the Umbrella Corporation raised Wesker as part of a eugenics program, which offers him the best education but also indoctrinates him into developing misanthropic views and a superiority complex.Wesker debuted in the original Resident Evil, where he is the captain of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, a special forces police unit in Raccoon City. He initially helps the player by providing supplies and useful information. However, the protagonists learn Wesker is secretly working with the Umbrella Corporation to develop mutagenic viruses and bio-organic weapons. Wesker is seemingly killed after releasing his latest BOW, the Tyrant, which unexpectedly impales him during the game's finale.
He returned to the franchise after a two-game hiatus in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica as the game's secondary antagonist. He survives his apparent death due to an experimental virus that not only resurrected him after suffering grievous injuries but also endowed him with enhanced strength, speed, and agility. Wesker, now working for an unnamed rival to the Umbrella Corporation, conducts a raid on a secret research facility in Antarctica. He is defeated by Chris Redfield, who arrives at the facility while searching for his missing sister, Claire. Wesker makes a cameo appearance in Resident Evil 4, where he is revealed to be working with Ada Wong to obtain a specimen sample for further BOW research.
He is the central antagonist in Resident Evil 5, where he conspires to release the Uroboros virus across the world and trigger an extinction event. He appears in-game as a nigh-invincible boss during the game's penultimate battle, in which he effortlessly dodges and parries most of the player's attacks. Chris and his partner Sheva ultimately halt his plans and kill Wesker in an active volcano at the end of the game. Despite his demise, his plans continue to drive the plot of the series, as his viral and BOW research causes many of the disasters and outbreaks in the subsequent games. The producer of the series has acknowledged that Wesker is indeed dead in the mainline video games.