Weapons director’s Resident Evil movie won’t have existing characters because fans ‘can play the games’ for their stories
“I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games,” Zach Cregger says
The director of the Resident Evil movie reboot says it won’t feature characters from the games, because their stories have already been told.
Earlier this year it was confirmed that Zach Cregger, the writer-director behind the critically acclaimed horror movie Barbarian and the recently released Weapons, will be writing and directing a new Resident Evil movie which will reboot the film series.
With Barbarian and Weapons achieving Rotten Tomatoes scores of 92% and 95% respectively, fans are excited about the prospect of Cregger directing a Resident Evil movie and the hope that it could result in similar critical praise.
In an interview with Inverse, Cregger has now explained that his film won’t retell the stories from the games but will instead feature new characters and tell a new story in the same universe.
Cregger explained that because he’s a big fan of the Resident Evil games, he doesn’t feel there’s any need to retell their stories because in his eyes they’ve already been told well enough.
“Let me say this – this is not breaking the rules of the games,” Cregger said, insisting that the new movie will still respect Resident Evil lore. “I am the biggest worshipper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games.
“It is obedient to the lore of the games, it’s just a different story. I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.”
Cregger says that if any players were hoping to see characters like Leon, Jill, Chris or Claire appearing in his movie, “they can play the game” to see their stories.
Constantin Film, which has held the screen rights for Resident Evil since the 1990s, will reportedly produce the reboot along with PlayStation Productions, a studio formed in 2019 by Sony Interactive Entertainment to adapt its original game properties for film and television in partnership with Sony Pictures. Sony has set a release date of September 18, 2026 for the movie.
The film is the second attempt by Constantin Film to reboot the Resident Evil movie series, with 2021 film Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City – which was based on the first two games – earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of 30%.
