Cregger went into Resident Evil thinking one and done — now he says he can't help himself
Cregger told Polygon he has already worked out where the story could go, though The Flood comes first.
Right, so Zach Cregger’s new take on Resident Evil has landed—and, for once in this genre, the critics aren’t sharpening their knives. This thing’s actually managed some of the best reviews a video game adaptation’s seen in ages. If you’ve just come out of the cinema and are wondering about a sequel, you’re not alone. The ending more or less tees the next chapter up on a silver platter… but there’s a snag, and I’ll get to that shortly.
Resident Evil released in June 2026 and has quickly become one of the highest-rated video game adaptations to date.
A familiar virus, a not-so-familiar angle
Unlike some of the earlier, shall we say, less artful Resident Evil films, Cregger’s version takes a fresh approach with an all-new story. The focus is on Austin Abrams (yep, him from Euphoria), playing Bryan, a medical courier who’s dumped right in the middle of a rapidly unravelling outbreak after being saddled with a mysterious package headed for Raccoon City. Tagging along in the cast are Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson. The script’s a team effort between Cregger and Shay Hatten (whose credits include John Wick: Chapter 4 and Army of the Dead—fair enough, then).
So, Bryan’s mission is to hand off this high-level device—a stabilising agent that just might be key to a cure for the new zombie plague. No prizes for guessing everything goes wrong. He’s bitten, struggles onwards, and eventually gets the goods to the Umbrella Corporation. Trouble is, that’s not quite the happy ending he (or frankly anyone) was hoping for—he winds up mutating into a full-on monster just as the National Guard come crashing into the city. The actual cure never gets out.
Where does it leave things?
Here’s what’s actually clever about this version: Bryan isn’t your classic action hero charging through to victory. If anything, he’s more like the unfortunate NPCs in the games—those poor sods you stumble across in a corridor, turned or doomed. So, Raccoon City’s left in tatters, the virus is running wild, and there’s no obvious lead character for a sequel to fall back on. Which is rather the point: the story’s set up beautifully for a continuation, but they’d have to go somewhere new with it. Maybe pull from Resident Evil 3, or nick some of the virus lore from Resident Evil 4 (Las Plagas fans, cross your fingers).
- Resident Evil is directed and co-written by Zach Cregger, with Shay Hatten as co-writer.
- The film features Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson.
- Ends with Bryan turning into a monster and the cure lost inside Raccoon City.
- No sequel is official yet, but story-wise it’s clearly primed for one.
- Cregger himself has admitted he’s got ideas for where it could all go next.
One condition: Keep Cregger in the chair
This brings us to the catch. The only way Resident Evil 2 makes proper sense is if Cregger’s back at the helm. His direction “gets” the games in a way most Hollywood adaptations absolutely do not—the horror, the madcap virus lore, even poking fun at itself when needed. Fans would riot if he was swapped out for someone paint-by-numbers. And apparently, he might be up for it despite his past reluctance to bother with franchise filmmaking. Speaking to Polygon after release, Cregger said he’d started seeing new directions for the series, which wasn’t something he’d ever planned on. Here’s the exact quote from that interview:
That was not what I was thinking when I was making the movie. I was thinking one and done. Now that it’s completed, I can’t help myself. This is just the way my brain works. I’ve already got other ideas of what could happen.
One small catch: he’s got another film already on the go—The Flood—so a sequel wouldn’t be happening next month. But considering how well Resident Evil did at the box office, you’d expect Sony to back the money truck up for him. If they’re clever, they’ll let him run wild with the next virus, and just maybe the next protagonist won’t end up as monster chow.
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