Resident Evil Director Reveals Why Leon Kennedy Isn’t in Movie

The firstResident Eviltrailer has been divisive for some, as fans of the original game series are worried about Zach Cregger’supcoming movie. Recently, Cregger revealed why his movie features no major characters from the game, and specifically doesn’t feature Leon Kennedy.

Why doesn’t Resident Evil feature Leon?

In a recent post on the horror subreddit, Cregger broke down some of the biggest moments from the recently released teaser trailer for the movie. While talking about a scene early in the trailer, Cregger revealed his inspiration behind the movie, and why he wanted to make a movie about someone that isn’t as prepared and ready as Leon Kennedy, the main character in many of the Resident Evil games.

“I wanted this movie to tell the story of what would happen if some idiot like me were dropped into the world of a RE game,” wrote Cregger. “So Austin plays not some badass with combat experience like Leon but just an average dude. That makes his experience of moving through this hellscape way more interesting to me than somebody who’s psychologically equipped.”

The movie, which Cregger has said takes place parallel to the events of the 1998 game Resident Evil 2, will feature a litany of ideas from the games. That includes Abrams’ character moving from big set piece to big set piece, upgrading weapons along the way, and more. Speaking to the PlayStation Blog, Cregger further talked about why he feels like simply retelling a story from the games, and specifically using Leon, would ultimately be disappointing for himself and audiences alike.

“I wanted to do a movie that was following a character from point A to point B, because that’s what those games do so well. You go on this crazy journey, and you go through all these different environments, and things just seem to be escalating and escalating,” said Cregger. “That feels so cinematic to me. So I wanted to tell a story that could take place in the Resident Evil world, but wasn’t telling a story that the games had already told. To me, I would feel like there’s kind of no winning there if I were to tell Leon’s story, because the games do such a great job. It would just be kind of redundant, and ultimately, I think, disappointing. So I would rather just kind of celebrate everything I love about the games by telling the story that could exist on the sidelines of one of the games.”

The upcoming movie starsEuphoriastarAustin Abramsas a courier who winds up stranded in a town where he must fight for his survival. Alongside Abrams, the movie will also star Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson in the film. The new Resident Evil movie is directed by Cregger, who co-wrote the screenplay with Army of the Dead and John Wick: Chapter 4 scribe Shay Hatten.

“In an all-new story, Resident Evil follows Bryan, a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos,” reads the official synopsis.

Resident Evil is set to release in theaters on September 18, 2026.