Zach Cregger has confirmed that he had never watched any of the previous Resident Evil films before directing the latest adaptation. The film instead draws primarily on his familiarity with the games, which helped him pursue a different approach from the franchise’s existing live-action entries.

The story follows medical courier Bryan, an original protagonist, through events occurring alongside Resident Evil 2, rather than focusing on established characters such as Leon Kennedy or Jill Valentine. Cregger designed the film to resemble a 90-minute game session, with exploration, limited resources and escalating threats, insisting that the project was conceived specifically as a Resident Evil story rather than an unrelated script with the franchise’s name attached.