Zach Cregger Shares Aunt Gladys Weapons Prequel Movie at San Diego Comic-Con 2026

Weapons and upcoming Resident Evil director Zach Cregger gave an update on the status of his Aunt Gladys prequel film at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday afternoon.

“First of all, I’m really excited about the Gladys movie. I loved working with Amy [Madigan], I love that character,” Cregger said. “For the movie Weapons, it really made a lot of sense not to dive into her backstory because the device of Weapons was to keep her very opaque and very mysterious. However, I think there’s an amazing story to be told about where Gladys comes from and how she became what we know her as. It’s got a lot of twists and turns and mysteries and crazy things, kind of like Weapons does, and I think it’s gonna be great. The script is in process now and we’re taking it very seriously and it’s moving in the right direction. It’s being written, is the short answer.”

An appetite for an Aunt Gladys prequel film gained traction barely a week after Weapons first came out in August 2025. The writer and director confirmed in September 2025 that the development talks with Warner Bros., which distributed Weapons, were “not bullshit.” In April 2026 — not long after Madigan won Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Gladys at the Oscars — the trades reported that Zach Shields (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), would be joining Cregger as co-writer on the script. The working title is currently, simply, Gladys.

Despite the active work on the Weapons prequel, Cregger said that it will not be his next film — that will be sci-fi thriller The Flood, produced by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, which already has a release date slated for August 11, 2028. Gladys will come after that. Meanwhile, he’s also producing a Siren Head film in the creepypasta horror space.

The Resident Evil director shared the panel stage with directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley — who shared directing duties on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Game Night, and are helming Apple TV’s upcoming Mayday, starring Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branaugh.

Speaking of Resident Evil, the director talked about his all-out approach in telling a “straightforward” story. “I wanted to see if I could put my foot all the way down on the gas pedal and not let up until the end of the movie,” he said. “That was the challenge: Can I just be completely unrelenting? You guys will tell me if that’s the case.”

Cregger will be passing through IGN’s studio at Comic-Con, along with Resident Evil star Austin Abrams, to talk about the upcoming film, which premieres September 18. Fans were stoked to learn a few weeks ago that the runtime would barely crack 90 minutes.

Leanne Butkovic (she/they) is an Editorial Project Manager at IGN, where they’ve also written about TV, movies, and games.