EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of Weapons, writer-director Zach Cregger is getting the wheels in motion for his next horror thriller. Sources tell Deadline that Paul Walter Hauser is set to join Austin Abrams in Cregger’s new adaptation of Resident Evil for Sony Pictures.

Cregger is directing the film, which is based on Capcom’s popular horror video games. He also co-wrote the script with Shay Hatten.

Constantin Film is producing and co-financing the pic. Constantin’s Robert Kulzer will produce as will Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee and Miri Yoon and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash and Carter Swan. Constantin’s Oliver Berben and Davis Films’ Victor Hadida are executive producing. TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown is overseeing for Sony.

Plot details on this pic are under wraps, but the previous Resident Evil movies were a mix of horror, sci-fi and action and followed the adventures of a heroine who fights zombies and the Umbrella Corporation, the bio-warfare company that let loose the monsters.

Sony Pictures is releasing the film theatrically on September 18, 2026. Sony distributed all the previous Resident Evil films, which have grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing video game-based movie franchises.

Hauser is best known for starring in Apple TV+’s crime-drama limited series Black Bird, for which he received Emmy, Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards in addition to a SAG Award nomination. He has had himself a busy 2025, starring in three films this past summer alone: in The Fantastic Four: First Steps as audience favorite Mole Man; in Paramount’s Naked Gun as Ed Hocken Jr., the straight-man partner to Liam Neeson’s Frank Drebin Jr.; and giving a nuanced and emotional performance playing a military veteran in Lionsgate’s modern-day Western Americana. 

Earlier this year, Hauser starred in IFC Films’ The Luckiest Man in America, which premiered at TIFF in 2024 to rave reviews for the actor’s performance. Up next, he is in 20th Century’s Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere, opposite Jeremy Allen White. Hauser recently wrapped production on Amazon MGM Studios’ action comedy Balls Up as well as Brian Swibel’s comedic thriller The Very Best People, and is in development on New Line Cinema’s Chris Farley biopic Farley.

Hauser is represented by WME, Artists First and Schreck Rose.