Resident Evil 2026 skips direct game adaptation entirely, choosing instead to tell an original story set in the same universe. Zach Cregger’s approach is either a brilliant workaround or a risky gamble, depending on your faith in Hollywood’s ability to handle video game properties without destroying them.
The film follows Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, as he navigates the T-virus outbreak in Raccoon City. This is the same setting as Resident Evil 2 and 3, but Cregger is deliberately not using Leon, Claire, Jill, or any of the game’s iconic characters. “It’s not canon, in that I’m not using the characters, but it’s canon in that it lives in the actual day of reckoning in Raccoon City,” he explained.
This decision comes after decades of failed attempts to translate Resident Evil to film. The original six-film series starring Milla Jovovich eventually abandoned the games entirely. The 2021 reboot Welcome to Raccoon City tried to faithfully adapt the first two games and was widely panned. Cregger apparently looked at this history and decided the problem wasn’t the material—it was the approach.
By creating an original protagonist, Cregger gains freedom to explore the franchise’s horror without competing with fan memories. Bryan is described as “just a normal guy” who is “not particularly good at combat,” making him an everyman surrogate rather than a trained police officer or special agent. When he encounters the “gigantic, obese, naked, hairless man” in the sewers or the six-limbed hive-mind creature, his reactions are meant to be authentically terrified rather than heroically composed.
The film also limits zombies to only two or three scenes, focusing instead on mutated creatures that showcase the T-virus’s more exotic possibilities. Cregger cited the opportunity for the virus to do “fascinating things to the human body” as his motivation for moving beyond the familiar undead hordes.
Whether this gamble pays off depends on whether audiences accept a Resident Evil film without Resident Evil’s main characters. But after eight previous attempts, doing something different might be the only option left.
See Resident Evil 2026 in theaters September 18 and decide if skipping the games was the right call.
Also Read: Resident Evil 2026 Is Actually Original