Resident Evil fans demand return of iconic character as divisive reboot trailer drops

2026 is a big one for video game movies in 2026, with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie already leapfrogging the competition to become the year's biggest blockbuster (so far).

Similarly, it's another stonker for horror, as Scream 7 got things off to a flying start ahead of much-hyped releases like Hokum, Scary Movie 6, and Evil Dead Burn.

Merging these two fan-favorite genres, we're loading up our shotguns and getting ready for a trip to Raccoon City with another adaptation of the Resident Evil IP.

Yes, the year 2026 marks the eighth live-action Resident Evil film, having come a long way from Paul W. S. Anderson's OG outing in 2002.

Say what you want about the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil movies, but even as the franchise continued to go off the boil as we careened to 2017's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, at least they were action-packed popcorn movies.

Even though Johannes Roberts was supposed to breathe new life into this corpse with 2021's Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, sticking much closer to the games proved to be an equally poisoned chalice.

What is Resident Evil (2026) about?

This brings us to Zach Cregger's simply titled Resident Evil, which promises to be a very different kind of story when it shuffles into cinemas on September 18. Having blown us away with Barbarian and earning Amy Madigan an Academy Award for Weapons, Cregger has now got the Resiverse in his grasp.

As he reunites with Austin Abrams, the Weapons alumni plays a medical courier called Bryan, who finds himself in a one-night race for survival as the world around him gets overtaken by zombies and a whole host of other monsters that look like they've been cooked up in an Umbrella lab.

This entirely original story is believed to be set in the same continuity as the Resident Evil games, hopefully meaning it can pull from the successes of animated adventures like 2012's Resident Evil: Damnation and its unheard of 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

The tight cast list includes True Detective's Kali Reis as Pauline, Severance's Zach Cherry as Dave, Johnno Wilson as Max, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Paul Walter Hauser as Carl, but as you might've noticed, there are no familiar names from the games.

While it's possible that we could see Leon Kennedy's floppy hair flick into frame as a last-minute way to set up a sequel, it really looks like Cregger is going in a different direction.

Fans aren't sure about Resident Evil 2026

We've got to hand it to Cregger that using a dial tone as a soundtrack is a pretty unique way to market Resident Evil, but after the first trailer dropped on April 30, it appears that fandom is split.

Many complain that it looks like a generic horror movie that's simply had the RE name slapped on it for hype. Gaming fans have obviously called out that there are no apparent connections, although we imagine there will at least be some Easter eggs when it eventually releases.

In a bizarre twist of fate, some have even called for the return of Jovovich as Alice. Instead of sticking with Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, Anderson's first movie created Alice as a brand-new character unique to his movie universe. Alice has never appeared in the games, and despite her getting plenty of hate, others defend her as a standout of the sometimes shaky series.

Replying to the Cregger trailer on X, one person wrote: "I hope Milla Jovovich will still play Alice…that role belongs to her!❤️."

Another said: "I’m a real sicko* *keeping my fingers crossed for a Jovovich cameo."

A third grumbled: "idgaf bring back Milla Jovovich."

Others claimed the trailer makes the Anderson movies look better, with one adding: "I never thought I’d miss Milla Jovovich’s *Resident Evil* movies, but here we are."

Someone else concluded: "It tires me out that they use the name of Resident Evil to make garbage. In the end, the best adaptations are going to be Milla Jovovich's ones HAHAHAHAHA."

Cregger has admitted that he never watched any of the Jovovich era, so chances of seeing Alice again are pretty much nil. Instead, he says he's taken his influence from Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II in this movie that still promises to be a love letter to the games.