Watch Resident Evil (2026) in 4K – Zach Cregger's Reboot

If you want to watch Resident Evil (2026), the second reboot of the iconic game franchise — this time directed by Zach Cregger, the filmmaker behind Barbarian (2022) — this is your complete streaming guide. Below you'll find everything confirmed about the film, the creative team behind it, its relationship to the game franchise, and how to stream it in 4K with InfinityTV when it releases on September 18, 2026.

What is Resident Evil (2026)?

Resident Evil (2026) is an American horror and action film directed by Zach Cregger, who co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten. The film is the second reboot of the Resident Evil film franchise, based on Capcom's Resident Evil video game series, and is scheduled for US theatrical release on September 18, 2026.

The film is an original screenplay — not an adaptation of any specific game storyline — but is set during the alternate events of the Resident Evil 2 timeline (1998), specifically in Raccoon City during the outbreak depicted in that game.

The confirmed cast

• Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier
• Zach Cherry in a supporting role
• Kali Reis in a supporting role
• Johnno Wilson in a supporting role
• Paul Walter Hauser in a supporting role

Austin Abrams leads the film as Bryan, a medical courier who is making a delivery when a sudden viral outbreak transforms the city around him and forces him to fight for survival against infected monsters. The protagonist is a deliberate departure from the franchise's previous action-hero leads — a regular person in an extraordinary situation rather than a combat-trained specialist.

The plot: what is the Resident Evil reboot about?

Resident Evil (2026) takes place during the alternate events of Resident Evil 2 (1998) — the version of Raccoon City's viral outbreak as it unfolds in the game's timeline. Bryan is a medical courier making a routine delivery when the outbreak begins around him. Without weapons training, combat experience, or any of the qualifications that the franchise's previous protagonists have possessed, he has to navigate an increasingly terrifying city and fight for survival.

The premise strips the franchise back to its horror fundamentals: a person who should not be there, in a situation they cannot understand, trying to stay alive. This approach — a non-specialist protagonist in a survival horror context — is consistent with both the original games' design philosophy (the earliest Resident Evil games were genuinely frightening precisely because the player characters were not superheroes) and with the direction Zach Cregger has proven capable of delivering.

Zach Cregger's creative approach

Zach Cregger is best known for directing Barbarian (2022), one of the most effective and structurally inventive horror films of the decade. Barbarian demonstrated several qualities that make him a strong choice for Resident Evil: a willingness to genuinely surprise the audience with tonal shifts, the ability to build sustained dread from naturalistic premises before releasing it into genre extremity, and a specific skill for making ordinary environments feel fundamentally unsafe.

Applied to Raccoon City — a city that the game series has made one of the most familiar environments in horror gaming — Cregger's instinct for subverting familiarity is a genuine asset. He co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten, whose credits include Army of the Dead (2021) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023), a writer experienced in genre films that balance action and horror.

The combination of Cregger's Barbarian-proven instincts with Hatten's genre craft produces a creative team equipped for a franchise reboot that needs to do two things simultaneously: honor what makes Resident Evil distinctive as a horror game franchise, and deliver something that works as a standalone film for audiences who have never played the games.

The Resident Evil franchise: film history

Understanding Resident Evil (2026) requires some context about the franchise's complicated film history.

The original film series, running from 2002 to 2016, starred Milla Jovovich as Alice — a character invented for the films and not present in the games. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who was also Jovovich's partner and later husband, the series ran six films and grossed approximately $1.2 billion worldwide. The films were commercially successful, particularly in international markets, but were criticised by game fans for departing substantially from the games' lore and tone.

The first reboot attempt — Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), directed by Johannes Roberts — took a different approach, adapting the storylines of the first two games directly with an ensemble cast. It received mixed reviews and underperformed commercially.

Resident Evil (2026) represents the second attempt at a franchise reset. By choosing Zach Cregger — a filmmaker whose horror credentials are impeccable and whose specific skill is making audiences genuinely frightened rather than simply spectacle-saturated — the production signals a commitment to the survival horror atmosphere that the games are known for and that neither previous film series consistently delivered.

Raccoon City: the setting

Raccoon City is one of the most recognizable fictional locations in horror gaming. It is a fictional midwestern American city that serves as the setting for Resident Evil 2 (1998) and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999), and that appears across multiple other games in the franchise.

In the game canon, Raccoon City is destroyed by a nuclear strike ordered by the US government to contain the T-virus outbreak — making it a setting that is already defined by catastrophic, irreversible loss. The decision to set Resident Evil (2026) during the alternate events of the Resident Evil 2 timeline means the film operates within the established emotional geography of the games while being free to tell a new story within it.

For viewers who know the games, the setting carries enormous associative weight. For viewers who don't, it is a contained catastrophe environment — a city turning against itself — that provides everything a survival horror narrative needs.

Paul Walter Hauser's supporting role

Paul Walter Hauser's addition to the cast is notable. He won the Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Richard Jewell (2019) and has been building a career as one of the most distinctive character actors in contemporary American film. His specific quality — a surface normalcy concealing reserves of either comedy or menace — is exactly the kind of casting that a survival horror film uses to maximum effect.

His role in Resident Evil has not been publicly specified beyond the cast confirmation, but his presence signals the production's seriousness about performance alongside its action and horror ambitions.

How to watch Resident Evil (2026) in 4K on InfinityTV

Resident Evil reaches US cinemas on September 18, 2026. Here is how to stream it in 4K with InfinityTV once the home streaming window opens:

1. Visit infinitytv.live and select a plan. A free 24-hour trial is available.
2. Activate your account instantly.
3. Install InfinityTV on your Firestick, Smart TV, Android TV box, Apple TV, smartphone, or tablet.
4. Search for Resident Evil (2026) in the 4K VOD library after the home streaming release.
5. Select 4K resolution. Horror films rely on shadow, texture, and the detail of environments to build their atmosphere. Raccoon City's urban decay and biological horror need to be seen clearly — 4K HDR delivers the dark scenes without loss of shadow detail.
6. Watch with the lights off and sound up. The audio design is integral to survival horror. Ambient sound, creature sounds, and environmental audio carry as much tension as the visual track.

InfinityTV's 150,000+ Movies & Series library includes the full Resident Evil film back catalog — the Jovovich series and Welcome to Raccoon City — plus the full spectrum of survival horror cinema. With 22,000+ live channels, 99.9% uptime, and 24/7 support, it's the single app for horror fans.

For more horror streaming, see our best IPTV for movies and series guide and browse new movies to watch in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

When does Resident Evil (2026) release?

Resident Evil (2026) is scheduled for US theatrical release on September 18, 2026. It will be available for home streaming after the theatrical window.

Who directed Resident Evil (2026)?

The film is directed by Zach Cregger, who previously directed Barbarian (2022) — one of the most acclaimed and structurally inventive horror films of the 2020s. He co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten.

Is Resident Evil (2026) connected to the Milla Jovovich films?

No. This is the second reboot of the franchise — an entirely new film with no narrative connection to either the 2002–2016 Jovovich series or the 2021 Welcome to Raccoon City reboot. It is set during the alternate events of the Resident Evil 2 (1998) game timeline but follows original characters.

What is Resident Evil (2026) about?

The film follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who is caught in Raccoon City during a viral outbreak and must fight for survival against infected monsters. It is a survival horror film with a civilian protagonist rather than a trained military or paramilitary character.

Is Resident Evil (2026) based on the games?

It is set in the game universe — specifically during the alternate Resident Evil 2 timeline — but follows original characters with an original screenplay, not an adaptation of any specific game storyline. The film is designed to work for both game fans and newcomers.

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