By Across the past twenty-odd years, the Resident Evil film saga has largely meant the six installments helmed by Paul W.S. Anderson and headlined by Milla Jovovich as Alice. That sextet cleared more than a billion dollars globally. By contrast, the 2021 relaunch, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, stalled at roughly $42 million around the world.
Zach Cregger—who terrified audiences with Barbarian and is about to do it again with Weapons—has now inherited the keys to a fresh cinematic take on Resident Evil. After cutting his teeth with the sketch-comedy collective The Whitest Kids U’ Know and assorted sitcom roles, Cregger has evolved into one of the most talked-about new voices in modern horror. Studios scrambled to land his pitch, with Sony Pictures—home to the prior seven chapters—ultimately winning the sweepstakes.
Plot specifics remain locked in an Umbrella-grade vault, yet GameSpot has rounded up every confirmed scrap below.
Who’s boarding the cast?
Austin Abrams is—so far—the single (tentatively) locked-in performer. He previously teamed with Cregger on Weapons and already knows his way around the undead courtesy of The Walking Dead. TV viewers also recognize him as Ethan Daley from HBO’s Euphoria.
Will legacy protagonists like Leon or Claire headline the reboot?
Cregger has signaled that no established RE stalwarts will anchor the narrative.
“The tale I’m crafting is a valentine to the games—honoring their rulebook,” Cregger remarked. “It bows to the mythology without retracing it. I’m not retelling Leon’s arc; the games already did that impeccably. Fans own that experience.”
He doubled down elsewhere: “This is a stand-alone script. It’s bizarre. I wrote it, I adore it, and it bears zero relation to earlier Resident Evil flicks. If I succeed, the final product will feel startling, sharp, and downright odd.”
Is the new film modeled on the earlier movies’ vibe?
Cregger admits he still hasn’t screened a single previous entry. Rather than mimic them, he aims to bottle the oppressive dread that defines the interactive originals.
“I haven’t watched the [prior] films, but trailers alone don’t hint at that suffocating dread I’m chasing,” he noted. “My job was to script something that weaponizes that anxiety while tipping its hat to canon. It’s a side quest inside the universe, not a rerun of any game plot.”
“Devotees of the movie cycle might be jolted by my approach,” he predicted. “Players, though, should walk away giddy.”
Chatting with Double Toasted, Cregger added that while his story “respects the interactive experience” and largely “inhabits the neighborhood” of Resident Evil 2 & 3, its soul leans toward the unnerving rhythm of Resident Evil 4. Still, it remains an original narrative, not a pixel-for-pixel adaptation.
He pointed out that the game series itself repeatedly reshuffles chronology and geography. “I’m not bending canon any further than the franchise already does. I’m stayin’ inside the lines,” he insisted.
“I haven’t seen anything like this on screen,” he exclaimed. “I’m ridiculously pumped to bring it to life.”
The filmmaker promised that the tonal muscle he flexed on Barbarian and Weapons will resurface—only upsized for a blockbuster budget.
“Viewers will ride shotgun with a lone lead who starts at surface level and keeps plunging deeper into nightmare territory,” he described. “Having logged ungodly hours in Resident Evil titles, I trust my gut on that pacing; it’s naturally cinematic. There’s a killer movie lurking in that structure, and we get to chase it.”
Lastly, Cregger locked in the production calendar: principal photography kicks off this October in Prague and wraps late January 2026. Why the Czech capital? He cited fat tax rebates plus picture-perfect locales. “It simply fits,” he summed up.
When does the new nightmare reach cinemas?
Circle September 18, 2026—mere months after the franchise itself turns 30.
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