The new Resident Evil reboot hits theaters September 18, 2026, and director Zach Cregger has already admitted what is keeping him up at night about it. In an interview with the New York Times, he said he “warily crosses his arms” every time he hears about a video game he loves getting turned into a movie.
Fans Will ‘Crucify’ Him and He Knows It
Cregger told the New York Times that fans will “crucify” him if the movie deviates too much from the source material. He is not pretending that the outcome is unlikely. Every previous Resident Evil film has gotten pulled apart by the fanbase for straying from the games. Cregger goes into this knowing that history.
What separates him from previous directors on the franchise is that he actually plays the games. He has beaten Resident Evil 9: Requiem multiple times. He calls himself a “worshipper” of the series.
His approach to the reboot comes from that. The film is set in Raccoon City during the 1998 T-Virus outbreak and follows Brian, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, who gets caught in the middle of everything.
Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, and Zach Cherry are also in it. There is no Leon Kennedy. No, Chris Redfield. No, Jill Valentine. Cregger made the deliberate call not to retell anything the games have already covered.
“I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games,” he said. “It is obedient to the lore of the games, it’s just a different story.“
The film is in post-production after wrapping in Prague. A script leaked online, and some fans are not happy with what they read, claiming the tone is more comedic than the franchise is used to.
Cregger has not addressed it publicly. Producer Roy Lee has said the edit is ongoing and the film could show up at CinemaCon in April.
The thing Cregger said about hearing news of a video game adaptation is worth sitting with. “Don’t ruin this for me” is his instinct. He is now on the other side of that feeling, and he seems to understand exactly what is at stake with the fanbase.
Whether that self-awareness translates into a film that actually works for Resident Evil fans is the question that September will answer.
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