The “Longlegs” and “It Follows” star takes EW behind the scenes of her short-film-esque promo for the upcoming game.

Maika Monroe returns to her horror roots in Resident Evil Requiem live-action trailer: ‘It really felt like chaos’ (exclusive)

The "Longlegs" and "It Follows" star takes EW behind the scenes of her short-film-esque promo for the upcoming game.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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February 2, 2026 10:00 a.m. ET

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Maika Monroe in a trailer for 'Resident Evil Requiem'. Credit:

- A new live-action trailer for *Resident Evil Requiem* stars *Longlegs* actress Maika Monroe as a mother surviving the Raccoon City outbreak.

- Monroe takes EW behind the scenes of the shoot: "Cops and dogs and smoke machines — it was just chaos."

- The actress also gives an update on *They Follow*, the sequel to her hit horror film *It Follows*: "I've heard some good news recently. So we'll see."

If you're in New York City or Los Angeles, you might notice some cryptic marketing popping up around town, including in Time Square and Hollywood: a red poster (in both static and motion versions) showing photographs of missing people with the tagline "Evil Has Always Had a Name."

A QR code brings you to a viewing link for a new live-action trailer for *Resident Evil Requiem*, starring Maika Monroe. The actress from *Longlegs*, *Reminders of Him*, and *It Follows* enters the world of the video game in what she describes as a "short-film type of dynamic."

"We had a lot of extras in zombie makeup just cruising around, which was quite funny," Monroe tells ** in an exclusive interview, conducted on the day of her voice-over recording session in early November. "Cops and dogs and smoke machines — it was just chaos. I mean, it really felt like chaos."

The live-action 'Resident Evil Requiem' trailer.

The live-action 'Resident Evil Requiem' trailer.

Monroe doesn't appear as any known *Resident Evil* character, including anyone from *Requiem* (out Feb. 27 on consoles). Rather she tells a new snackable story from the universe of Raccoon City, the Umbrella Corporation, and the zombie-making T-virus.

She portrays a mother living in ground zero, Raccoon City, in the 1990s when the outbreak began. "First the sirens, then the emergency broadcasts… then the screams," Monroe says in character.

'Resident Evil' movie is 'entirely original story' set in game world, Zach Cregger says (exclusive)

The game references in the 'Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City' trailer

The trailer, which was shot in Mexico City, continues with flashes of the woman navigating the violent scene on the streets, trying to keep her daughter alive as they dodge zombies and Lickers. A flash-forward reveals their ultimate fate: a zombified Monroe (donning prosthetics that took about three and a half hours to apply) clutching a photograph of mother and child.

"What I loved about it was it had a lot of heart," Monroe says. "It's really heartbreaking, the story that you're watching unfold. I just thought it was a really interesting and a new way to portray this video game coming out."

A zombified Maika Monroe in the live-action 'Resident Evil Requiem' trailer.

The actress, seen most recently on screen in a reimagining of *The Hand That Rocks the Cradle*, hasn't played the *Resident Evil* games — and doesn't game generally — but knows of them through the Milla Jovovich-led film franchise. At the helm of the trailer shoot was Rich Lee, a notable director of music videos for a range of performers (Billie Eilish, Lana Del Rey, Eminem, etc.). Monroe remembers the lookbook he sent over with visual references.

"It felt very nostalgic," she says. "The big point was going back to the '90s, the original location of Raccoon City. And then of course, you get to the end and they're showing visuals of the zombies, that I would then get to be a zombie. It was really quite exciting."

The story of *Resident Evil Requiem* follows FBI intelligence analyst Grace Ashcroft and veteran agent (and fan-favorite character) Leon S. Kennedy. Grace travels to an abandoned Midwestern hotel, where her mother was murdered eight years prior, to investigate the latest in a series of deaths. When a cop goes missing, Leon is dispatched to assist.

The live-action 'Resident Evil Requiem' trailer.

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Monroe's foray into the world of *Resident Evil* follows a series of intriguing roles in the horror space. The most significant far remains her chilling 2024 movie with costar Nicolas Cage and director Osgood Perkins. "I've definitely felt a change post-*Longlegs*, but the two, now three films that I did right after *Longlegs* were not horror at all," she says. "At this point, it'll take something very specific in the horror space for me to want to do it. I'm being picky, for sure, but I love the horror genre."

Monroe will hopefully soon return for *They Follow*, the sequel to her 2014 indie horror hit *It Follows* which has been reported about in the press but hasn't seen a formal update in some time. "Rumors have been spreading that it will be happening. So I would stay positive because I've heard some good news recently," she teases. "So we'll see."

Regarding the script, "It's not at all what I expected, where you would find [her character] Jay, which I thought was really interesting," Monroe continues. "I was like, 'Whoa! Cool,' which I think the audience will probably have a similar reaction. I know this might sound cliché, but it's staying true to the original where we're bringing back all the same team… The story is very much still in that space, but it's just grander and, yeah, I'm really, really excited for it."

Until then, watch Monroe race through Raccoon City in the *Resident Evil Requiem* trailer above.

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Source: “EW Horror”