If you were hoping to see Leon S. Kennedy drop-kick a zombie or Jill Valentine on the big screen this fall, you might want to adjust your expectations for the upcoming Resident Evil movie.
Zach Cregger—the mastermind behind the claustrophobic horror hit Barbarian and the highly praised Weapons—is wiping the creative slate completely clean for his upcoming Resident Evil film. The movie is taking place in the infamous, corporate-cursed setting of Raccoon City in 1998. Cregger has confirmed that absolutely zero legacy characters from the Capcom franchise will appear.
Speaking with Empire magazine, Cregger defended his decision to leave the fan-favorites on the bench:
“To try and shoehorn in any of those characters would feel inorganic to this self-contained story. I have to put the story first and foremost.”
Trading Superhero Cops for an Everyday Courier
Instead of a heavily armed special forces agent, Cregger’s narrative focuses entirely on a wholly original protagonist named Bryan. He’s a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, nonstop race for survival as a fateful, horrifying night collapses around him into chaos.
Because his job description involves transporting blood samples rather than rocket launchers, Bryan is a regular guy who is completely out of his depth when the local population starts chewing on each other.
“Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything,” Cregger teased. “It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor.”
Who is in It?
Austin Abrams will lead the cast that also includes Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Johnno Wilson, and Kali Reis, whom we interviewed about her role in “True Detective.”
Breaking the Curse of Hollywood
While leaving iconic characters out of an IP adaptation is a bold strategy, history proves Cregger might actually be onto something.
HHollywood’srelationship with the Resident Evil lore has always been notoriously messy. The original, long-running Paul W.S. Anderson films introduced a protagonist (Milla JJovovich’sAlice) before eventually bringing in game icons like Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. However, those characters were largely reduced to glorified, heavily altered cosplay, leaving hardcore gamers frustrated.
2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City tried to adapt the first two games. The result? Critical hate from reviewers and a canceled sequel. By abandoning the baggage of the games entirely, Cregger is free to do what he does best: build pure, unadulterated cinematic tension from scratch.
Distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Resident Evil is locked and loaded to invade theaters on September 18, 2026. Brace yourselves for a very different kind of night in Raccoon City.
