Austin Abrams Discusses Resident Evil Role and That Devastating Ending
Austin Abrams is having a moment. The 30-year-old actor stars as Bryan, a medical courier caught in a zombie outbreak, in Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, which opened to a franchise-best $60 million domestically over its first three days. The film has also earned the best reviews of any Resident Evil adaptation, cementing both Cregger and Abrams as forces in contemporary horror.
In recent interviews with The Hollywood Reporter and other outlets, Abrams opened up about his approach to the role, the film's heartbreaking conclusion, and how a classic zombie comedy helped shape his performance.
Shaun of the Dead as Creative North Star
Speaking to Gizmodo, Abrams revealed that he deliberately avoided the traditional "cool action hero" archetype. Instead, he drew inspiration from Edgar Wright's 2004 film Shaun of the Dead, which similarly features an ordinary person fumbling through a zombie apocalypse.
"I wanted to look like the antithesis of the 'cool action hero' as much as I possibly could because that feels the most interesting," Abrams explained. "There's a joy in being able to see this guy react naturally to all this crazy shit."
The actor emphasized that Bryan's lack of video game knowledge—unlike the audience—makes him more relatable. "I always thought, How would this dude actually react to this? I just wanted it to feel really real-world."
The Risky Ending That Almost Wasn't
Cregger's Last-Minute Pivot
The film's climax sees Bryan finally delivering an antidote to scientists—only to transform into a monstrous creature after being bitten earlier. He gruesomely kills the scientists as the antidote falls to the ground, leaving no hope for a cure.
But this wasn't always the plan. Director Zach Cregger revealed to The Wrap that the original ending was significantly different. In the first version, Bryan's transformation was largely hidden in shadows and fog, and the antidote was destroyed early in the altercation.
"It's crazy what we did—so we ended up pivoting well after wrap and kind of coming up with a new order of events," Cregger said. "I felt like we weren't seeing Austin enough in the fog. We miss our guy!"
The director reshot portions using Scanline's dome of a thousand cameras in Los Angeles, allowing Bryan's monstrous transformation to be fully visible while maintaining the character's humanity until the very end.
Abrams on the Emotional Weight
Abrams told Bloody Disgusting that the ending's brutality was part of its power. "I love that Zach takes those risks," he said. "You follow this one guy the whole time, so hopefully you're enjoying watching him and rooting for him. Then to have him not make it is really risky and gutsy."
The actor noted that Bryan's arc includes a poignant voice message to his pregnant girlfriend, expressing regret over his initial reluctance to become a father. "I wouldn't say he deserved his fate, especially when you see him turn it around toward the end. That's part of the tragedy of it all."
A Career-Defining Year
From Weapons to Resident Evil to Whalefall
Abrams' collaboration with Cregger began with 2023's Weapons, in which he played an unhoused junkie thief. That film won an Oscar for Amy Madigan and established the actor-director partnership. Abrams stuck with Cregger through strike-related scheduling chaos, a decision that has paid off handsomely.
Next up is Whalefall, a survival thriller directed by Brian Duffield (a frequent Cregger collaborator), arriving October 16. The film casts Abrams as a scuba diver swallowed whole by a sperm whale, another physically demanding solo performance.
"Honestly, in certain ways, they're one and the same," Abrams told The Hollywood Reporter about the two roles. "Resident Evil generally had more laughs, just based on the nature of the comedy involved, so that helped lighten the load."
The Bigger Picture
Abrams' rise reflects a broader trend in horror cinema: the elevation of character-driven storytelling over spectacle. Cregger's films—Barbarian, Weapons, and now Resident Evil—have consistently prioritized emotional investment alongside genuine scares, earning both critical acclaim and commercial success.
The decision to kill off a likable protagonist represents a throwback to older horror traditions, where endings weren't softened for audience comfort. Abrams acknowledged this, noting that modern films often pull their punches. "We're here to feel, man. We're here to go through something."
With Resident Evil dominating the box office and Whalefall on the horizon, Abrams has positioned himself as one of Hollywood's most compelling young leads—willing to embrace vulnerability, absurdity, and tragedy in equal measure.
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