Will There Be A Sequel To Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’?
Resident Evil (2026) is a massive hit for Sony, especially after the lackluster critical reception to previous efforts like Resident Evil (2002) and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021). Despite the massive cast of characters available for Zach Cregger to pull from, the Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025) filmmaker kept things grounded and focused on an original character, Bryan. Things don’t really work out for him in the end, playing into the film’s bleaker tenor over the more action-oriented versions that came before.
Resident Evil doesn’t necessarily call for a sequel by the time the credits roll—something reinforced by Zach Cregger’s repeated insistence that he has no intention of making a sequel—although he admitted to Polygon that he does have a few ideas for a prospective follow-up. However, the film might actually be better off without one. Given the way the film ends, Cregger might be better suited to just have a one-and-done entry in the franchise.
Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Ends Bryan’s Story Pretty Conclusively
Resident Evil’s bleak ending locks the fate of Bryan pretty firmly into place, leaving little room to expand the story with a sequel. After being infected about halfway through the film, Bryan survives through a lot of horrible threats to deliver an important component of the cure to the Umbrella Corporation’s scientists. However, just as they finalize the cure, he loses control and transforms into a monster. In the end, Bryan is lost to his corrupted form, the scientists are dead, the cure is lost, and the National Guard has arrived to open fire.
There’s little hope for Bryan to return in a new film, save as a monstrous threat that would have to be dealt with. The ending fits neatly into the themes of the movie, where human error and overconfidence are the quickest path to destruction for humanity. Despite Bryan’s resolve, he’s just a monster at the end of the story, as deadly as anything he’s encountered. Going by the timeline of the source material, Raccoon City will also be nuked by the government not long after the events depicted in the film. There’s no story to push forward for the character, so even if there was a follow-up to the film, it wouldn’t be a direct sequel.
What Would A Follow-Up To ‘Resident Evil’ Even Be About?
If there were a theoretical follow-up to Resident Evil, it would have to abandon Bryan as a main character and shift to someone else entirely. His girlfriend Michelle could become a focal point, but her disconnect from Raccoon City and pregnancy would make her less likely to be a character trapped in the kind of chaos that the movie leans into. Another option would be to shift the adaptation more directly towards the source material.
A sequel could revisit the night of Resident Evil and focus on characters like Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, or Jill Valentine. However, that would fly in the face of Zach Cregger’s comments to outlets like ScreenOffScript, where he explained that he’s a fan of the games and didn’t want to just make an inferior version of those stories in adapting them. Even just another expanded focus on the effects of the outbreak in Raccoon City could be good fodder for a sequel, but it could risk feeling like a retread of what this film already has done.
‘Resident Evil’ Works Better As A Stand-Alone Horror Film
Resident Evil has a sprawling history in video games and has previously spawned an infamously long film series. However, Zach Cregger’s take on the material feels much more attuned to the stand-alone nature of his previous two films. In fact, it works better as a snapshot into a horrifying world instead of a franchise starter.
It reinforces the film’s focus on the random survivors of the outbreak, keeping that crucial grounded touch from being lost in narrative escalation. It allows the story to be a one-and-done chapter in the overarching timeline that doesn’t ever risk interfering too much with the canon. It also allows the film to remain just as much a Zach Cregger story as it is a Resident Evil adaptation, without risk of diluting what works by retrospectively overcomplicating it. While there’s likely plenty of temptation to expand Resident Evil with new sequels, the film’s grim and conclusive ending should hopefully keep Sony from pursuing such a path.
