The latest trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil film has sparked a pretty interesting conversation, especially after comments from the team at Constantin Film suggesting that this isn’t really a “zombie movie.” That’s a bold statement for a franchise that most people still associate with the undead, but honestly, it might be the smartest move they could make.
Because if you’ve actually spent time with the games, you know Resident Evil has never really been just about zombies.
It Was Never Just About the Undead
From the very beginning, the series has leaned more into bio-organic horror, corporate corruption, and interconnected storytelling than mindless hordes. Sure, zombies are the entry point, but they’re rarely the main focus once things get going.
Take Resident Evil 2 for example. Around halfway in the game, you can walk into Kendo’s gun shop and find a note from Jill Valentine, the protagonist of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It’s a small detail, but it quietly reinforces that these stories are happening alongside each other, part of a larger web rather than isolated incidents.
Interconnected Stories Are the Real DNA
More recent entries have only doubled down on that idea. Even in newer titles like Resident Evil Requiem, the focus has shifted toward multiple perspectives and character swapping, letting players see how different storylines collide and influence one another.
Sometimes that crossover is front and center, other times it’s just hinted at through files, environments, or offhand references. But it’s always there, quietly stitching the universe together.
And that’s exactly what this new movie should be aiming for.
The Right Way to Use Resident Evil Legacy Characters
There’s a real temptation with adaptations to lean hard on familiar faces like Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield, or Jill Valentine. And look, it would be exciting to see them show up; there’s no denying that.
But the movie shouldn’t depend on them.
If we look at Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City from 2021. That film featured a lot of characters from Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3. While it was fun fan service, it felt compact and rushed. The characters lost their importance to the narrative.
If anything, the best approach would be to treat those characters as connective tissue rather than the main attraction. A brief appearance, a passing mention, something that reinforces the shared universe without hijacking the story being told. Perhaps Leon saves our main character from an enemy, or perhaps Jill Valentine can be seen fighting the Nemesis off in the background.
That balance is crucial. The film needs to stand on its own first. If it can’t do that, no amount of fan service is going to save it.
What Makes It Feel Like Resident Evil
At its core, Resident Evil thrives on escalation. Stories often start grounded; a strange incident, a missing person, a localized outbreak. Then, before you know it, everything spirals into something much bigger, usually involving shadowy experiments and the ever-present influence of Umbrella Corporation.
The new film doesn’t need to copy that formula beat for beat, but it should at least acknowledge it. That sense of a larger, hidden world operating just beneath the surface is what gives the series its edge.
Even if the plot stays relatively self-contained, knowing that these larger forces exist would go a long way in making it feel authentic.
Why This Could Actually Work
Calling this “not a zombie movie” might sound like a risk, but it’s also an opportunity. It suggests a shift toward what Resident Evil actually does best: tension, mystery, and a slowly unraveling web of connections.
If the filmmakers can capture that; if they can tell a story that stands on its own while subtly weaving into the broader universe; then this could end up being one of the more interesting takes on the franchise we’ve seen in years.
Because at the end of the day, Resident Evil isn’t defined by zombies.
It’s defined by how everything connects.
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