Toni Braxton and her mother Evelyn Braxton, were outsideeee showing Birdman some love at the Cash Money & No Limit tour stop in Atlanta. Mama Evelyn came through iced OUT with her bling bling, while Toni hit the stage during the show.

RELATED: All The Feels! Toni Braxton Shares Never-Before-Seen Wedding Pics As She Celebrates Second Wedding Anniversary With Birdman (PHOTOS) 

Evelyn Braxton Said She’s OUTSIDE For Her Son-In-Law

On Friday, September 18, Evelyn Braxton hopped on Instagram and let her followers know she was getting ready to pop out to support Birdman at the Cash Money & No Limit tour stop in Atlanta. Cash Money and No Limit took over State Farm Arena last night, and Evelyn made sure she came through dripped down to watch her son-in-law hit the stage. Evelyn stepped out in a matching gray denim set covered in sparkling rhinestones. But chileee, the real star of her fit was her blinged-out choker necklace. She made sure the camera caught every inch of her ice. She was definitely giving bling bling for the occasion! “I’m going to see my son-in-law some of you call him Baby, some call him Birdman […] call him whatever you want to call him he’s still my son-in-law. How about that?” Evelyn said in the clip.

Wifey Duties! Toni Braxton Made Sure To Show OUT For Her Hubby

And you already know Toni Braxton was holding her man DOWN! YBF Daily shared a clip of the singer onstage turning up in a green silk top while the music blasted through the arena. As the camera panned across the stage Birdman popped into the view rocking a white hoodie with black pants.

The Internet Is Here For Toni & Everlyn Holdin’ Birdman Down

Once fans peeped Toni catching a vibe, plenty of folks said they expected nothing less! Some joked that they already knew her energy would be on 100 because she does not play about her hubby. Meanwhile, others flooded YBF Daily’s comment section with love for Toni and Evelyn, saying they enjoyed seeing the ladies pull up. Peep some of the reactions below.

Instagram user @notjustalawyer wrote, “Mama Evelyn got on her bling bling yassss honey !!!” 

Instagram user @pb_la_g wrote, “IKTR Ms. Evelyn! 🤏🏾 They get it from their mama! 😂😂😂 She looks great!” 

While Instagram user @itskaterryj wrote, “I still can’t believe she married that man but she truly is his rider.” 

Then Instagram user @alleyezonbillie wrote, “I love when Toni feels good ❤️” 

Another Instagram user @theyoungd wrote, “My girl was outside 😍” 

Instagram user @melancholy_orchid wrote, “I love mama Evelyn❤️” 

Then another Instagram user @ohbradshaw wrote, “You know what…. Hell YEAH! 💃🏾” 

Lastly, Instagram user @dyou2 wrote, “I’m thinking Baby brought her the chain 😂😂” 

RELATED: Wife Era Unlocked! Toni Braxton Spills Tea On How She & Birdman Celebrated Their First Wedding Anniversary (VIDEO) 

Zara Larsson has hit out at Donald Trump’s White House for using her song “Midnight Sun” in a brutal ICE video promoting deportations.

The Swedish pop star slammed the people behind it as “f-cking losers,” explaining that the song is actually about feeling connected to nature, the universe, and other people.

This isn’t the first time she has been dragged into something like this. Earlier this year, she fired back after the White House mocked her post criticizing ICE amid reports that an officer shot a woman in Minnesota.

Zara Larsson has publicly condemned Donald Trump’s White House after her music was featured in a promotional video showcasing enforcement operations by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The official White House TikTok account shared the 19-second clip with the caption “never ending deportations,” set to Larsson’s track “Midnight Sun.” The video depicts around a dozen men restrained in handcuffs and leg shackles by officers.

However, the “Lush Life” singer expressed sadness over the clip in a three-minute video, arguing that it dehumanized those depicted and contributed to division. She also made an “L” sign with her hand.

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Larsson emphasized that “Midnight Sun” was written about feeling connected to nature, the universe, and humanity, making its association with mass deportation footage deeply antithetical to its message.

She noted that she and the person responsible for the video are no different, adding that the “biggest difference between us is that we were dealt a different hand in life.”

She questioned why the Trump administration keeps portraying undocumented immigrants that way, saying they are ordinary people looking to secure a better life for themselves and their families.

The singer also noted that the video only creates division among people before calling those responsible “f-cking losers.”

Several Stars Have Objected To Trump Using Their Music

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The “Ain’t My Fault” singer isn’t the first pop star to object to the Trump administration using their music to promote immigration policies and other achievements.

Artists including Ariana Grande, Katy Perry, and Olivia Rodrigo have previously slammed the White House for unauthorized song placements in social media clips showcasing ICE operations, per Rolling Stone.

Bad Bunny, Celine Dion, Noah Kahan, Sabrina Carpenter, Beyoncé, and several others have also spoken out against the Trump administration’s use of their music, either during the campaign or to promote its immigration policies.

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Meanwhile, the situation comes about seven months after the “Ain’t My Fault” singer was involved in a contentious back-and-forth with the White House on social media over the reported shooting of a woman in Minnesota by an ICE officer.

At the time, she reportedly took to her Instagram Story to condemn ICE activities, writing, “I love immigrants, I love criminals, I love trans people, I love abortions, I love queers, I love slutty women, I love contraception, I love welfare, I love socialism, I f-cking hate ICE.”

However, the White House appeared to respond through a video posted on its official TikTok account. The clip, which featured Trump, was set to her hit song “Lush Life” as text seemingly pushing back against her comments appeared on screen.

“We love America First … We love deportations … We love cheap gas prices … We love a secure border … We love world peace … We love law and order … We love work not welfare … WE LOVE ICE and our law enforcement!” some of the phrases read.

Larsson seemingly brushed off the response, writing that she thought they were “losers” and that she shared her opinions because she loved people and connections, per Buzzing Pop.

She added, “It’s not about the theater of it all.”

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Larsson’s outspoken political views haven’t come without a price, particularly when it comes to her pro-Palestine advocacy.

In a series of candid revelations in her documentary “Up Close,” she revealed that she had suffered several canceled gigs, lost lucrative deals, and even had invitations to award shows withdrawn.

She has consistently used her platform to draw attention to causes including immigration policy and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. However, the repercussions have seemingly reached an unprecedented level.

“I have never been cancelled like that before,” she stated in the film. “I lost gigs, didn’t get to perform at award shows, and had offers withdrawn.”

This interview contains spoilers for the first two episodes of Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story.

Rebecca Hall can truly do anything. From her highly acclaimed lead performances in indies like the biographical psychological drama Christine and romantic dramedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona to franchise films like Godzilla vs. Kong and Iron Man 3, the range of her projects and characters is unmatched. In addition, she’s also a phenomenal filmmaker, with her directorial debut, Passing, nominated for a Satellite, DGA, and NAACP Image Award, among many others.

Hall’s newest project is Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, which centers on a young woman (Ella Beatty) accused of murdering her parents with an axe. Hall takes on the role of Lizzie’s deliciously wicked stepmother Abby. Never without a sharp but hilarious jab, Hall is campy, cruel excellence in this role, chewing the scenery and expertly playing off her co-stars.

Collider got the chance to speak to Hall about her performance in the show. Throughout the conversation, Hall shared her favorite pieces of unhinged dialogue she got to deliver, the trauma of filming that insane projectile vomiting scene, the surprising comedy film that inspired her performance, and more.

Rebecca Hall Shares Her Favorite Piece of Wild Dialogue in ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’

“They’re some of the funniest erudite putdowns I think I’ve ever heard.”

COLLIDER: Your dialogue in this show is so deliciously insane. Was it challenging to memorize?

REBECCA HALL: Oh, that’s a good question. No one’s asked me that. Yeah, it was challenging to memorize. The thing that I realized fairly quickly was that there needed to be this polar-opposite feeling between Charlie and me. I was like, “If he is someone who speaks very slowly with a stutter and finds it very difficult to find the right word for something, then I’ve got to be someone who always has the right word for everything and speaks incredibly fast, so I needed to know the dialogue inside out to be able to deliver it that unhesitatingly,” and that was hard. Luckily, the dialogue is pretty memorable. I think there are definitely chunks of it that I can still remember now because they’re some of the funniest erudite putdowns I think I’ve ever heard.

Is there one that stands out to you the most?

HALL: “Turgid little sausage fingers” is definitely memorable.

I wrote that one down, for sure.

HALL: I was really fond of the line, “Flapdoodle — this is my personality.”

She’s such a singular character, but she sort of fits in the canon of the evil stepmothers from fairy tales, which I thought was really cool. I’m curious if you drew from any other characters or performances to inspire you.

HALL: I did, and I didn’t. I felt like I wanted to create something that was unique and specific. When I was thinking about the accent — which I wanted to be not really from anywhere as much as just Abby — I kept thinking about those mid-Atlantic accents that actors created in the 1930s that didn’t actually exist but had this sort of affect of like, “I’m extremely posh and elitist.” So I listened to a lot of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Max Winkler had the brilliant suggestion of me going and looking at Vivian Pickles’ performance in Harold and Maude. I was like, “Ohh, okay.” That’s real comedic gold, so I was like, “He does want me to go that comedic.” That’s when I understood that.

I was getting a little bit of Cate Blanchett in Cinderella.

HALL: Oh, yeah, maybe. I’ve never seen that, so I don’t know, actually. I was also thinking about, yeah, she’s an archetypal stepmother figure, but she’s also really wounded and hurt. That was definitely something that informed it. She’s very aware of the injustice of her own narrative. She’s the kind of character who feels like she wanted a lot more from life and hasn’t had it, so now she’s turned to alcohol and cruelty.

Rebecca Hall Reveals What That Vomit in Episode 2 Was Made Of

“I was really ill, actually.”

There was so much, as you said, comedic gold in this. I have to ask about the projectile vomiting, the explosive diarrhea.

HALL: I don’t know what you’re talking about. It was very serious. I was really ill, actually.

I’m so curious, what is it like to film something like that? I’ve certainly never seen anything like this before.

HALL: It’s pretty dark. [Laughs] It’s just a lot of tomato soup.

A lot of tomato soup, okay. Logistically, that was like quite a feat, I can imagine.

HALL: It’s unbelievable. I was so worried about it. For what makes maybe four minutes of screen time takes easily a day to shoot. That’s a day of sitting around tomato soup that smells in a specific way. You’re not getting that when you watch it on your screen.

No 4DX.

HALL: No, no 4DX business — we were in it. Literally sitting in soup.

I mean, wow. Just wow. That is all I have to say about that.

HALL: Thank you.

Of course.

Rebecca Hall Discusses the Only Reason ‘Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story’ Didn’t Leave Her Too Traumatized

“I haven’t got a very strong stomach for violence.”

Image via Netflix

Lizzie Borden is such an iconic, legendary story. I’m curious what kind of research you did and if there was anything that you found that was especially surprising or memorable to you?

HALL: I don’t look anything like Abby Borden is really the only thing that I learned from that. I didn’t do any research is the truth, I think there are other aspects of the show when you get into the trial and all those kinds of things that warrant looking at the historical accuracy, but in terms of playing Abby, there’s very little about her out there, and I could already tell from reading the script that Ian Brennan and Ryan Murphy had taken liberties and created a character that they were interested in for this show, so I felt like the only thing I could do was do the same thing.

This is the fourth installment in the anthology. Are there any serial killers you think would be interesting to explore in the next season if we’re pitching things out there?

HALL: [Smirks] I got a couple, but I’m not gonna share.

Okay, we’re keeping it under lock and key. We obviously talked about the tomato soup of it all, but I also think that image of her covered in blood and feathers is such an iconic horror image. I’m curious how that gore informs how you approach those scenes and what it was like getting really gnarly in there.

HALL: I haven’t got a very strong stomach for violence. I really can’t handle it myself.

How did you deal with that then, going home at night? Were we listening to meditation and ASMR? What were we doing?

HALL: It didn’t feel entirely real. There was a rig in my shirt with a magnetic slot so the axe just sits in it. I’m just walking around making stupid jokes to all the gaffers, being like, “Look! Look! Does anyone want to pull it out?” I wasn’t that traumatized by it is the truth. Thank goodness, because if I really thought about what was going on, I think I would have probably projectile vomited and had to leave the set. I had to treat it with a certain theatrical remove, I think.

Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story is now streaming on Netflix.

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Release Date

September 17, 2026

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Network

Netflix

Directors

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Max Winkler, Sarah Adina Smith

Writers

Ian Brennan

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Cast

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  Vicky Krieps

  Bridget Sullivan

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  Ella Beatty

  Lizzie Borden

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Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for Ted Lasso Season 4.

The “Believe” sign in AFC Richmond’s locker room is arguably Ted Lasso‘s most iconic symbol and is ever-present in fan memorabilia, from T-shirts to decorations, and even tattoos. Now, Season 4 has given it an upgrade. In the show’s latest episode, Ted’s (Jason Sudeikis) new “Believe” sign is added to the women’s locker room and faces instant backlash from the Lady Greyhounds — until coach Alice Chilton (Tanya Reynolds) makes a simple yet powerful gesture to change it.

‘Ted Lasso’s “Believe” Sign Change Has a Deeper Meaning

The Lady Greyhounds’ main argument against having a “Believe” sign in their locker room is that, as Margy (Mercedes Assad) puts it best, they already believe in themselves. They’re all dedicated to second-division women’s football mostly for the love of the game, and “believing” lifts none of the weight of being underpaid while still having to shoulder greater burdens than the overwhelming majority of male players. In that sense, it feels almost patronizing to tell a woman to “believe” under these circumstances.

The moment also doubles as an instant reality check for Ted. In previous seasons, he applied this philosophy to male players who were essentially rejects and needed only to believe in themselves to start winning. In women’s football, however, “believing” only gets you so far. In Episode 3, “Richmond’s Got Talent,” Keeley (Juno Temple) tells Roy (Brett Goldstein) ahead of the Lady Greyhounds’ first-ever match that “women don’t get friendlies; we either succeed, or we fail,” which perfectly illustrates the situation.

So far, Ted Lasso Season 4 has nailed its portrayal of this sad reality. Both individually and as a team, women are under a lot more pressure and scrutiny than men. Female teams often have only a fraction of their male counterparts’ budget and are still seen as a huge financial risk, as proven by Higgins’ (Jeremy Swift) report in Episode 3. So, they play not only against adversaries, but also against everyone else’s expectations, meaning that, for the Lady Greyhounds, “believing” isn’t enough.

‘Ted Lasso’s “Believe” Sign Moment Gives Alice a Bigger Role

Image via Apple TV

As “Yes & Baby” shows, the Lady Greyhounds have had everything but results, both on and off the pitch. Each member of the team has her own problems, but Alice is among those who have it the hardest. Working with Ted and Beard (Brendan Hunt) — two men coaching a women’s team — affected her self-esteem at first, but putting up the “Believe (and Win)” sign is her first concrete step toward getting it back in a positive way.

Season 4 has already established Alice as a counterpoint to Nate Shelley (Nick Mohammed), and Ted is aware of her potential. She believes in her coaching abilities more than anyone else does, but, unlike Nate, Alice understands her need for self-improvement and has been taking concrete steps toward it. That’s what Ted and Beard’s “yes, and…” advice is all about: opening the door for more practical opportunities for those around her, like giving Shannon (Shannon Hayes) a chance during training, and real change for herself. In that sense, Ted Lasso‘s “Believe (and Win)” sign perfectly captures how much Alice has already improved. The team’s acceptance of this message might seem trivial at first, especially as they start chanting it in the locker room shortly after, but it’s really Alice’s first real message to the players, as well as her first real win.

‘Ted Lasso’s New “Believe” Sign Represents a Turning Point for Season 4

Ted Lasso Season 4 has already emphasized the differences between men’s and women’s football, from the very visual language established for the women’s team — the color schemes in both their jerseys and their “Believe” sign are inverted compared to the men’s — to the conditions they have to work under — they didn’t have their own locker room, didn’t have official uniforms for their first-ever match, don’t usually play at Nelson Road, etc.

There is one thing both teams need, though, and that’s a sense of unity and purpose. The original “Believe” sign gave the men just that, and now, the “Believe (and Win)” sign gives it to the women, too. Before that, they divided themselves into cliques, struggled to develop their pitch dynamics, and started getting disillusioned by this week’s episode. When Lizzie’s (Faye Marsay) kid finally reads the Post-It, it’s the realization the team needed while representing a bigger turning point for the Lady Greyhounds going forward, just as it did for the men’s team.

Bill Skarsgård is taking on a new challenge as he ventures into the world of video games.

The actor has landed a leading role in an upcoming action-espionage title from Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima.

The news was confirmed during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 broadcast, but the actor has yet to share it publicly himself.

Skarsgård’s likeness and performance will feature prominently in a new game from Kojima Productions, as announced during the Xbox Tokyo Game Show 2026 broadcast.

Titled “Physint,” the game will also feature stars Charlee Fraser, Don Lee and Minami Hamabe, while filmmaker Jordan Peele is also involved in the project.

“‘Physint’ is the third original IP from Kojima Productions and has been described by Hideo Kojima as the culmination of his 40-year career as a video game creator,” read a statement about the project.

“With the full support of Xbox, ‘Physint’ will use cutting-edge technology and a stellar cast to create a game experience like no other, with the aim of setting a new benchmark for the action-espionage genre.”

Hideo Kojima Reveals Why He Chose Bill Skarsgård

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Skarsgård’s upcoming role in Kojima’s Physint appears to be his first major video game role.

Despite the actor’s limited experience in the medium, Kojima was eager to collaborate with him, having long admired his work.

“We are both long-time fans of each other’s work, and we’ve decided to embark on this new adventure together,” the video game designer said in the announcement.

“The costume fittings, scans, and camera tests we conducted with Bill and Charlee earlier this year gave me tremendous confidence in the direction of the project,” he added.

Fans Cheer Bill Skarsgård’s ‘Physint’ Casting

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Online, fans welcomed the news that Skarsgård had been picked to play the project’s lead role.

“Wow, Bill Skarsgard wasn’t in my mind, i thought it was Robert Pattinson who’s going to play the main character role. But goddd, i have so much hype for this project,” one fan wrote.

“He’s just a really good actor one of my personal favs after his performance as Pennywise so I’m happy he’s in Physint I cant wait,” another individual said of Skarsgård.

“Very excited, great casting choices. I’m sure they’ll put on some brilliant performances. Congratulations XBOX! a solid W after so long,” another wrote.

Bill Skarsgård’s Career Keeps Growing Beyond ‘IT’

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Skarsgård has built a diverse career across horror, action and drama, but his performance as the terrifying Pennywise in “IT” helped establish him as one of the horror genre’s most recognizable actors.

Among his most recent projects are Gus Van Sant’s “Dead Man’s Wire” and “The Death of Robin Hood,” the latter alongside Hugh Jackman and Jodie Comer. Both films received critical acclaim, adding to his growing filmography.

Looking ahead, the actor will star in Peter Berg’s upcoming “The Mosquito Bowl” and Andrew Niccol’s “Lords of War.”

Skarsgård Sets His Sights On Another Pennywise Return

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Following the success of the “IT” movies, Skarsgård returned to his iconic clown role in the spinoff series “IT: Welcome to Derry.”

The first season explored Pennywise’s origins and ended with the possibility of the malevolent entity returning after its usual 27-year cycle.

With a second season recently greenlit, Skarsgård is set to reprise his role in the HBO production. However, other returning cast members have yet to be announced, leaving it unclear how many of his first-season co-stars will join him.

Pierce Brosnan made a rare public appearance with his family earlier this week.

The famed James Bond star was spotted alongside his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, and their sons, Dylan and Paris Brosnan, at the 2026 Indiewood Film Festival at TCL Chinese Theatre.

The family stepped out to support “Seniors,” which marks Paris’ feature film acting debut.

The tight-knit group walked the red carpet together, joined by the sons’ partners, Alex Lee-Aillon and Avery Wheless. Their presence made the premiere a full-fledged family celebration in support of Paris’ appearance in “Seniors.”

Pierce looked as suave as ever in a tailored blue suit, exuding effortless charm alongside Keely, who wore a pink lace mini dress with a white blazer.

Meanwhile, Paris took center stage as the star of the night in a classic black suit, while Dylan rounded out the group in a dashing tan suit.

The outing marked a rare public reunion for the family, who last appeared together at the GQ Men of the Year party in 2022.

Paris Brosnan Reflects On His ‘Seniors’ Film Debut

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On Thursday, September 17, Paris marked the premiere by sharing event photos on Instagram, along with a heartfelt note about his time filming “Seniors.”

“Last summer I got to spend a few weeks in Indiana making ‘Seniors’ alongside the students at Huntington University and the incredible John Rhys-Davies,” he wrote, adding that the project shows “how much we can learn from different generations.”

The actor also noted that the project’s themes hit close to home. He then thanked the entire cast, crew, supporters, and Huntington University community for helping make the film a reality.

Pierce Brosnan And Keely Celebrate 25 Years Of Marriage

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For Brosnan, the red carpet outing also marked another chapter in his enduring love story with Keely.

They met at a beach party in Mexico in April 1994, while Keely was working as an entertainment journalist. After several years of dating, they married in August 2001 at Ballintubber Abbey in Ireland.

The couple frequently celebrates each other on social media and in interviews, sharing heartfelt tributes to their decades-long partnership. They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in August 2026.

Inside Pierce Brosnan’s Blended Family

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Pierce is the father of five children from his two marriages: three with his late first wife, Cassandra Harris, and two sons with Keely.

His journey into fatherhood began when he married Cassandra. He formally adopted her two children, Charlotte and Christopher, and the couple welcomed a son, Sean, in 1983.

After Cassandra died of ovarian cancer in 1991, Pierce raised their young family as a single dad. Charlotte tragically died of the same disease in 2013, at age 41.

The family expanded after Pierce met Keely, with sons Dylan and Paris born in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Through his children, Pierce is also a proud grandfather of four: Isabella and Lucas Smith, Marley May, and Jaxxon Brosnan.

Pierce Brosnan’s Children Forge Their Own Career Paths

Brosnan’s four surviving children have pursued careers spanning film, modeling, music, and mental health.

Dylan is a filmmaker, musician, and model. He graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and has composed music for short films. He has also modeled for major luxury fashion brands, including Saint Laurent and Burberry.

Paris is also a model and actor. Before his feature film acting debut in the indie movie “Seniors,” he walked the runway for high-end designers such as Dolce & Gabbana and Balmain.

Sean transitioned into the mental health field after spending years acting and directing. He currently runs his own mental health and wellness practice.

Meanwhile, Christopher has largely retreated from public life in recent years. He previously worked behind the scenes in the entertainment industry, including as an assistant director or crew member on several of his father’s major films, such as “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “The World Is Not Enough.”

Hollywood has spent more than two decades trying to turn Resident Evil into a successful live-action franchise, and mostly failing. Paul W.S. Anderson’s movies built an increasingly explosive mythology of their own, while Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City crammed the first two games into one movie. Both approaches borrowed plenty from Capcom, but neither captured the specific panic of wasting your ammunition, opening the wrong door, and realizing the game has something much worse planned for you.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil solves that problem without adapting an existing storyline or recruiting Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine, or Chris Redfield. It recreates the experience of playing the games through limited supplies, locked doors, escalating objectives, revolting creatures, and one increasingly furious man who cannot believe any of this is happening to him. The result is an adaptation built around what players do instead of which characters they recognize, which is exactly what the franchise needed.

Bryan Is the Perfect ‘Resident Evil’ Player Character

Austin Abrams stars as Bryan, a medical courier whose final delivery of the night takes him toward Raccoon City at the worst possible time. He is not a cop, soldier, or government agent who has spent years surviving bioweapon outbreaks. He is just some guy who was already having a terrible night before the monsters arrived. That makes Bryan much closer to the person holding the controller than the franchise’s established heroes. Leon and Jill have survived enough mutated nightmares that audiences expect them to know what to do. Bryan wastes ammunition, misses important details, makes terrible decisions, and keeps entering places that no sensible person should enter because the story has given him another objective.

His near-constant cussing may be the movie’s most accurate connection to the games. Bryan mutters while searching unfamiliar spaces, begs enemies to stay dead, and becomes personally offended every time the night gets worse. Anyone who has ever sworn at a locked door or demanded to know why a game gave them a shotgun without shotgun shells will recognize him immediately. But Abrams never plays that frustration like Bryan knows he is inside a video game. He is simply reacting to an absurd situation with the same panic, anger, and disbelief that players usually provide from the other side of the screen.

‘Resident Evil’ Turns Each Set Piece Into a New Level

Image via Columbia Pictures

Cregger has described Bryan as an avatar and discussed designing the movie around the games’ power progression. That meant each new location needed to challenge Bryan in a completely different way while still pushing him toward his final destination. In an interview with Collider’s Perri Nemiroff at Fantastic Fest, Cregger admitted that translating that structure into a movie created a new production problem with practically every sequence:

“This whole movie was just like… I didn’t even think about it when I’m writing it, but then when we get there, I’m just like, ‘Okay, it’s just one set piece after set piece after set piece,’ and each one is a completely new, very complicated riddle that has to be solved. I would love to do a movie of just two people in a diner, just talking. That just sounds so refreshing.”

Those complicated riddles become the movie’s version of individual levels. Bryan receives an objective, enters a new environment, finds supplies, encounters something horrible, and escapes into an even worse part of the map. Each location introduces its own rules and obstacles, giving the movie the same forward momentum as a playthrough that refuses to offer a comfortable stopping point. Bryan’s growing arsenal reinforces that progression. He moves from a pistol to a shotgun and eventually a machine gun, but better weapons never turn him into an unstoppable action hero. He becomes marginally better at surviving while the monsters become much larger, faster, and more disgusting, until he himself becomes one.

That balance is essential to Resident Evil. Finding a shotgun should provide approximately five seconds of relief before the player starts wondering why the game decided they needed one. Cregger lets Bryan become stronger without allowing him, or the audience, to become comfortable. The familiar references also support the structure instead of becoming a parade of Easter eggs. Typewriters, herbs, padlocks, healing supplies, and recognizable creatures appear throughout the movie because they belong to the franchise’s visual and mechanical language. Even viewers who have never touched the games understand what it means when Bryan finds a weapon, enters a new area, or discovers another door he cannot open yet.

A Faithful Adaptation Does Not Need Leon Kennedy

Image via CAPCOM

I would happily watch Leon Kennedy stumble through Raccoon City again, but recognition is not the same thing as understanding. The Anderson movies pulled characters and monsters from the games into their own mythology, while Welcome to Raccoon City recreated famous locations and story beats. Cregger leaves those heroes alone and tells an original story on the edges of the outbreak, yet his movie understands what players actually do inside that world. A direct adaptation can rebuild the Spencer Mansion or Raccoon City Police Department, but a movie cannot give viewers the agency that makes exploring them terrifying. They cannot decide whether to use a healing item, conserve their last two bullets, or open the extremely suspicious door at the end of the hall. Cregger replaces that agency with Bryan’s frustration, desperation, and increasingly questionable choices.

Bryan is not replacing Leon, Jill, or Chris, nor does he need to. He represents the poor bastard controlling them, except he has been dropped into their world without their training or seemingly endless tolerance for getting bitten. Watching him struggle is more recognizable to players than watching another highly trained hero confidently mow down monsters. After years of movies adapting Resident Evil’s stories, Cregger adapts its verbs: search, conserve, unlock, run, shoot, swear, and somehow survive long enough to reach the next objective until you can’t anymore. Bryan’s miserable journey captures what lore and Easter eggs cannot. Faithfulness is not only about what players see in Resident Evil: it is also about everything the games put them through.

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Release Date

September 18, 2026

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Runtime

90 Minutes

Producers

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Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Miri Yoon, Robert Kulzer, Roy Lee, Zach Cregger, David Minkowski

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