Resident Evil Movie Report Hints at a Totally New Story

Barbarian director Zach Cregger is working on a new Resident Evil movie that’ll be out in 2026, but ahead of that release, we’re already starting to hear rumors about who might be playing different roles in the movie. Just as exciting as those rumors and speculations, however, is another report about the story the movie that emerged today to suggest that the Resident Evil film may deviate from the usual starting points that the Resident Evil games follow. As opposed to solely following one of the main protagonists directly like Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine, or Claire Redfield, Cregger’s Resident Evil movie will supposedly take the story in a different direction.

The latest on the Resident Evil movie comes from Daniel “DanielRPK” Richtman who shared some insights into the rumored story via his Patreon subscriptions. According to Richtman, the Resident Evil movie may deal in part with a totally new character as opposed to the well established ones we already know.

“The upcoming Resident Evil film follows a hapless courier tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital,” Richtman said. “He finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.”

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That’s not much to go off of in terms of where the story will go beyond our introduction to an unnamed courier, but it’s enough to know that this isn’t really like any of the other Resident Evil games or movies we’ve seen in the past. The first Resident Evil, for example, takes place largely in the Spencer Mansion while Resident Evil 2 is set within Raccoon City as is Resident Evil 3. Not in any of these three original Resident Evil games the movie is said to draw inspiration from do we get a story involving a courier at all.

That’s not to say that other established characters won’t show up, too, since it wouldn’t really be a Resident Evil movie without those biggest names making an appearance. Rather, if the Resident Evil movie report is true, this courier could be the type of character that helps the film move more towards horror and less towards action, a tone that’s recently been emphasized given Cregger’s involvement. Resident Evil movies have largely received so-so receptions across the board no matter who’s in charge of them, so even though it’s a deviation from the usual story, this might end up being exactly what Cregger’s Resident Evil movie needs.

As for the mainline Resident Evil characters that might make an appearance, Leon S. Kennedy is the only one that’s strongly rumored for the movie right now with another report from this week saying that Austin Abrams was being eyed for the role. Richtman had insights on the Leon situation as well, but nothing so definitive as a confirmation.

“Also Austin Abrams’ character is listed as BRYAN, could be a codename and he is Leon or maybe he really does play a character called Bryan,” Richtman said. “And if so I’m not sure if it’s Brian Irons or an original character.”

Funny enough, Abrams was the No. 1 pick for Leon on our casting list of who should play which roles. Neither Abrams nor anyone else has been confirmed for the movie yet, but we’ve got from now until its September 18, 2026, release date to learn plenty more about it.