Development
Following the release of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City in November 2021, writer and director Johannes Roberts stated if a sequel were to be developed, he would like to adapt the story from Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (2000)—referenced in the film with an appearance of the Ashford Twins—and then Resident Evil 4 (2005). He also expressed interest in adapting Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and Resident Evil Village (2021) in the future.
Actor Robbie Amell stated he hoped to return as Chris Redfield in a sequel, which included his boulder-punching scene from Resident Evil 5 (2009). By June 2022, actor Tom Hopper confirmed that Sony and Constantin Film were pleased with the film's success on video-on-demand (VOD) and said he hoped to play Albert Wesker again.
By October 2022, the film was one of several projects considered by executive producer Martin Moszkowicz to be in development alongside another television series, which would have replaced Netflix's series cancelled two months prior, though the exact details were not given, and Moszkowicz was skeptical of films being released for theaters if not projected to be successful.
In April 2023, Raccoon HG Productions, which financed Welcome to Raccoon City, received a grant of CA$2 million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation for a film titled Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Greater Sudbury was picked as the principle location. According to entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider, the studio was looking at Zach Cregger to direct the new film.
In January 2025, it was announced Cregger would co-write and direct a new Resident Evil film, which would serve as a reboot of the film series. Film rights holder Constantin Film co-financed and produced, alongside PlayStation Productions and Vertigo Entertainment. A bidding war between four major studios ensued for the film's distribution rights, including Warner Bros. Pictures and Netflix. In March 2025, it was revealed that Sony Pictures, which had co-produced the previous live-action films under their Screen Gems division, won the bidding war, and would have Columbia Pictures partnering with sister company TriStar Pictures in an association capacity under president Nicole Brown, who would be responsible for overseeing the film production. In August 2025, Cregger revealed the film would be an original story set in the Resident Evil universe and would not feature any characters from the games, saying, "I'm not going to tell Leon's story, because Leon's story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that". Cregger stated, "It's gonna be not at all like Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025)", instead comparing the film to Evil Dead II (1987), and that "this is a story that I would've wanted to write whether I got the IP or not". He went on to describe it as a "love letter to the games", since he is also a player and fan of the video games.
In September 2025, Cregger stated he had never seen any of the previous Resident Evil movies, and the upcoming film would be more closely based on the video game series, particularly Resident Evil 2 (1998), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999), and Resident Evil 4. In an April 2026 interview with PlayStation Blog, Cregger elaborated by stating he wrote the film to take place concurrently with the events of the Raccoon City outbreak in Resident Evil 2, albeit in an alternate timeline to the video game series set in a contemporary period.
Cregger stated, "I wanted to construct a story that could live in the world of Resident Evil and be maybe on the periphery of the events of Resident Evil 2, where Raccoon City is having its big night, but tell another story that could be happening in parallel to that that really honors the vibe and the pacing that you get when you play the games."
