Director Zach Cregger has admitted he was "naive" to think fans would embrace his Resident Evil film despite it not directly retelling any single game's story. Speaking to IGN, Cregger said he assumed players would welcome a new survival-horror movie rather than expecting a faithful retelling of a fan-favourite instalment involving characters such as Leon, Ada or Jill, and acknowledged he underestimated the strength of fans' desire to see specific stories from the games brought to screen.

Cregger's film follows medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) during the Raccoon City Incident, running in parallel to the events of Resident Evil 2 rather than adapting it directly. He said the decision stemmed from love for the games rather than a lack of respect for them, pointing to numerous references in trailers and promotional material, including shotgun ammo pickups, padlocks, a typewriter safe room, an Umbrella Corp organ transplant slip, and first-person sequences evoking Resident Evil 7 and 8. He previously told IGN at San Diego Comic-Con that he "took liberties" because the games' existing characters already work so well as they are.