'Resident Evil' trailer repositions the franchise around Austin Abrams’ civilian lead

Highlights

• Austin Abrams leads the reboot as an ordinary courier caught in chaos
• Zach Cregger directs a new story with no legacy characters
• Franchise worth over £950 million globally takes a more grounded approach

An unlikely lead at the centre of horror

The new trailer for Resident Evil shifts the focus away from seasoned fighters and places Austin Abrams at the heart of the outbreak. Playing a courier who stumbles into a crisis in Raccoon City, Abrams represents a different kind of protagonist for the franchise.

There are no familiar heroes this time. Instead, the story follows someone with no experience of survival or combat, caught in a situation that rapidly spirals beyond control. The approach changes the tone, turning the narrative into something more immediate and less predictable.

Directed by Zach Cregger, the film moves away from established characters such as Leon S. Kennedy and Jill Valentine, opting instead for a self-contained storyline.

A major franchise scaled down

The Resident Evil series, originally developed by Capcom in 1994, has grown into one of the most recognisable horror properties across games and film. Its cinematic adaptations, beginning in 2002 with Milla Jovovich, have collectively earned more than £950 million at the global box office.

Despite that scale, the new film takes a more contained route. By centring the story on a single character rather than a wider ensemble, it steps back from spectacle and focuses on a more personal experience of the outbreak.

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Horror driven by uncertainty

Written by Shay Hatten and Cregger, the film leans into vulnerability rather than control. Without familiar figures guiding the story, there is no clear sense of who will survive or how events will unfold.

This shift places greater emphasis on tension and unpredictability. The danger is not framed as something to be overcome, but something to be navigated moment by moment.

Set for release on September 18, Resident Evil presents a different kind of reset for the franchise, one that trades established heroes for an ordinary perspective and, in doing so, redefines how the story is experienced.