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Weapons director Zach Cregger isn’t about to tell the story of Leon S Kennedy on the big screen. Instead, he reasons, you have Capcom’s own Resident Evil games for that.
Instead, self-confessed Resi fan Cregger says his upcoming Resident Evil movie reboot will tell an original story set with the world of the games, albeit with new characters. So that likely means no Leon, no Wesker, and no Chris Redfield punching rocks.
Still, the project will be “obedient to the lore of the games,” Cregger told Inverse — so maybe someone else will punch rocks instead?
While characters like Leon remain hugely popular, Cregger said that fans already had the existing Resident Evil games in which to see their stories pan out — narratives that he is seemingly uninterested in rehashing again.
“Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games,” Cregger said, acknowedging his project would be a “different story” from the one shown in Capcom’s franchise previously.
“I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games,” he continued, confirming it would sit “outside of the characters 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.”
While seemingly the second project in a row that Leon has been left out of (though we still have our doubts regarding Resident Evil Requiem), Cregger’s take on the franchise will at least ensure it isn’t just another adaptation of characters and storylines fans have seen already (and that may be better suited to the medium of video games) — something that will likely set it apart from 2001’s previous Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City film reboot, which arrived to mixed reviews.
Cregger’s film is now designed to act as a second reboot, under new stewardship for the franchise within Sony Pictures. Cregger is writing and directing the movie, which is currently set to launch on September 18, 2026, with Euphoria and Wolfs actor Austin Abrams reportedly lined up to star.
“There’s a moment that comes in almost every Resident Evil game where you find yourself in a dark passageway, your health is almost zero and there’s no way around,” Cregger said at CinemaCon back in May. “You have to go through but you know there’s something awful for you in the darkness.”
“That is a thrill that the Resident Evil games have perfected,” he added. “My movie will be built in the spirit of those games and follows one central protagonist from point A to point B, as they descend deeper into hell.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
