Welcome to Raccoon City, a seemingly normal place that's home to the world's leading company in creating horrors beyond imagination: the Umbrella Corporation. Zach Cregger's Resident Evil (2026) is finally here, and it has been making waves for all the right reasons. It has quickly become the highest-rated video game film ever made, and it is tracking to have the biggest opening weekend of any RE movie. Better yet: this horror thriller is actually... fun.
Much like the games it is based on, Resident Evil (2026) can be horrifying, stress-inducing, and dark while not taking itself too seriously all the time. Granted, you won't see the main character suddenly ride a bike, perform impossible stunts, escape from zombie dogs, and deliver kickass one-liners in the meantime. However, the film is filled with dark humor that injects a bit of levity into an otherwise terrifying situation. But was the end also light-hearted, or did director Zach Cregger get the last laugh?
Before we break it all down, be warned: There will be MAJOR spoilers for Resident Evil (2026) ahead. If you don't want any surprises ruined ahead of time, it's best to turn back now.
Still here? Then chances are you already know Bryan meets a terrible fate during the events of Resident Evil (2026). But is there a chance he could still be saved?
Bryan was turned into a mutated zombie in Resident Evil (2026)
Resident Evil (2026) follows a very unlikely (but extremely likeable) character in the form of Austin Abrams' Bryan, a medical courier tasked with delivering a very important package to Raccoon City on the very same night the zombie outbreak begins. Throughout the first half of the movie, Bryan does his best to accomplish this goal because he just discovered he will become a father and desperately needs the money. However, his plan goes horribly awry once he reaches the tunnel that connects to Racoon City.
Following the infamous video game logic that oftentimes plagues the Resident Evil games, Bryan has trouble crossing the tunnel because multiple cars are blocking his path. As such, he is forced to enter a large camping vehicle in the hopes of finding an alternate way forward. However, what Bryan finds there is something that shakes him to his very core: a little girl who is still aware and conscious of the situation around her, but who is starting to turn into a horrible, mutated creature.
Bryan promises to help the girl find her family despite the fact that her foot has multiple tentacles coming out of it. The girl even extends her arms in the hopes that Bryan will carry her away from such a dire situation. But in the blink of an eye, she is fully turned into a zombie that bites Bryan in the arm. Just like that, the main character's fate is sealed.
After barely escaping the tunnel alive, Bryan meets a member of the Umbrella Corporation who finally gives an explanation for some of the madness that has been unfolding. As it turns out, the medical package Bryan was tasked with delivering was a key component needed to make a cure for the dreadful T-Virus that has been turning people into zombies. Learning that he still has a chance at salvation, Bryan does everything in his power to reach the Umbrella Corporation headquarters and give the package to the scientists who are hiding there.
After multiple encounters with the undead, Bryan finally makes it to his destination. Unfortunately for him, time was not on his side. Just as the scientists started to craft a cure, Bryan was turned into a horrific creature that started to destroy everything in its path. Unfortunately, not only did the people around him fail to inject him with the cure, but the antidote itself was destroyed after being dropped from the building.
Throughout this final encounter, Bryan is still somewhat conscious at first, trying his best to spare the poor souls around him, but failing to do so. Eventually, we see the last piece of himself vanish, leaving a cruel and relentless creature in his stead, which is quickly surrounded by US helicopters.
The events of Resident Evil (2026) could lead to the destruction of Raccoon City
In the Resident Evil video games, the United States Government realizes the Raccoon City outbreak is spiraling out of control, and they decide to launch a missile that decimates the whole place to keep the situation contained... or at least, that's the story the media reported. Turns out the destruction of the city was part of a bigger conspiracy in an attempt to retrieve and control some of the original biochemical weapons involved in all the zombie madness.
Resident Evil (2026) doesn't dive too deep into the creation of the T-Virus or the many corporations fighting to get control of it. But if there is ever a sequel to the film, it could stick to the simpler narrative and reveal that Bryan's destruction of the cure put the U.S. Government in a very delicate position, where it was forced to destroy Raccoon City to contain the outbreak.
Only time will tell whether we'll see more of this story on the big screen, but if that were ever to happen, one thing is clear: Bryan won't be part of the narrative anymore. Because even if the choppers don't kill him, the city's destruction certainly will.
Resident Evil (2026) is now playing in theaters.
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