The Latest Resident Evil Reboot Won’t Be “Completely Obedient” To The Games
Here we go again.
And just like that, the Resident Evil franchise finds itself right back where it started.
For all its popularity among gamers, Resident Evil just can’t get the big-screen adaptation it deserves. Paul W. S. Anderson’s take on the franchise was financially successful, but not exactly relevant to the games. Resident Evil’s loyal fandom mostly disregarded his six films, and the same goes for Sony’s 2021 reboot and Netflix’s own Resident Evil series, released just one year later. A third reboot already feels counterintuitive, but the addition of director Zach Cregger, whose Barbarian felt like the perfect audition, gave fans some reason to hope. The more Cregger reveals about his plans, however, the less likely a faithful adaptation seems.
Cregger is only just beginning his work on the reboot, but with his latest film, Weapons, in the can, he’s set to turn his full attention to adapting the games. He spoke a bit about his love for the series in the latest issue of SFX Magazine, saying, “I am a gigantic Resident Evil game fan. I’ve played them all. I don’t know how many times I’ve just looped [Resident Evil 4] again and again. I just love it.”
That might make him the perfect director, but Cregger’s strategy may take the new remake down a disappointingly familiar path.
It’s time to ask the tough question: is Resident Evil simply cursed?
Though Cregger is a fan, his approach may prove controversial. “I’m definitely not trying to be completely obedient to the lore of the games,” he told SFX. “I’m trying to tell a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.”
The director admitted that he’s wary about “breaking any rules,” but his comments do align with recent speculation. According to industry leaker Daniel Richtman, Cregger’s Resident Evil will follow the story of a “hapless courier tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.” Austin Abrams has been rumored to star, and though he bears a passing resemblance to Leon S. Kennedy, the hero of Resident Evil 2 and 4, Richtman claims that Abrams will be playing an original character.
“When I scooped that Austin Abrams has been cast as the lead in the new film... I mentioned that his character is named Bryan,” Richtman said. “People assumed it was a code name and he’s actually playing Leon. Well, I can confirm his character is actually called Bryan and he’s an original character not from the games. The movie is not gonna be a faithful adaptation.”
Austin Abrams was once rumored to play Leon S. Kennedy, but he may be Cregger’s Alice Abernathy.
Until Cregger gives audiences a bit more insight, Richtman’s comments remain speculative. Still, this strategy would be nothing new in the world of game adaptations: Sony just took the same approach with this year’s Until Dawn, and A24 reportedly plans to go a similar route with Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding.
Famously, though, it’s never what fans of those games actually want to see. Directors may view it as a tribute to the games they love, but from the outside, it can feel like a cop-out. Why focus on the “experience” of a game and not the story? Why slap the property’s name onto a film that has little, if anything, to do with that world? No one’s asking for a Resident Evil movie where Austin Abrams gets stuck on a puzzle for 25 minutes, but would it hurt to set it in a mansion? Video game adaptations have been locked in a self-destructive cycle for years, and though there’s a chance Cregger will surprise us, the idea of him repeating the same mistakes as his predecessors is frustrating.
