Jay Clendenin/Shutterstock for Warner Bros. Share on Facebook Share on X Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text [This story contains major spoilers for Weapons.] Weapons is a watershed moment for star Austin Abrams. The scene-stealer of Zach Cregger's mystery-horror film is on the verge of going from one of the names atop a call sheet to the name atop a call sheet. The 28-year-old Florida native has already booked the starring role in Cregger's next film, Resident Evil, and he's currently leading Brian Duffield's highly anticipated adaptation of Whalefall for 20th Century. Related Stories Movies Box Office: 'Weapons' Blazes to $42.5M Opening, 'Freakier Friday' Smiles Wide With $29M Bow Movies 'Weapons' Star Alden Ehrenreich Wants You to Go to More Theater in Los Angeles Weapons chronicles a collection of characters in Maybrook, PA, as they orbit the baffling disappearance of 17 schoolkids at 2:17 AM. Abrams was a part of Cregger's original cast that once featured the likes of Pedro Pascal. But due to the delay caused by 2023's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, Pascal's crowded schedule forced him to exit the role of Archer Graff. The rest of the main cast also followed suit, but Abrams became the lone exception who was willing to wait it out and not pursue other work while Cregger reshuffled the deck. "I just wanted to do Weapons," Abrams tells The Hollywood Reporter. "When [Cregger's Barbarian] cut to Justin Long [to begin its second act], I immediately thought, 'Whoever the fuck made this movie, I fucking love this person.' So when I got out of the theater, I was like, 'I need to figure out how to meet this guy and work with this guy.' And it's so rare that it actually happens." As for his Resident Evil casting, Abrams can only speculate as to how much his loyal gesture influenced Cregger's decision to have him carry his original story in the video game-based franchise. "I don't think it hurt anything. If I did something else instead of Weapons, I certainly don't think that would've helped me do something like Resident Evil," Abrams admits. (Spoilers ahead.) Josh Brolin ended up portraying the role that Pascal vacated in the now critical and commercial hit. His grieving father character eventually has a climactic confrontation with James, Abrams' homeless addict character, at the house where all the missing schoolchildren have congregated. James and Archer's borderline slapstick fight was already quite bizarre since Abrams' character was possessed by the same type of witch's spell that brought the kids to that particular home in the first place. But what makes it even more bizarre is that Brolin is currently playing Abrams' father in Duffield's aforementioned survival thriller about a scuba diver (Abrams) who's swallowed alive by a sperm whale. (The book includes a father-son flashback narrative.) "It was just really cool to come into something else and already have this weird connection with [Brolin]," Abrams says. "It almost feels like you're entering a different dimension, and while you've had an experience with this person, it's not the same person. So it's strange, but it's only helped things." Abrams did not get to enjoy Cregger's highly sought-after script with the witchcraft twist intact, but the reading experience was still rewarding, as was his eventual perusal of Cregger's Resident Evil screenplay. "My freaking agent had spoiled it. I love him, but that was annoying," Abrams recalls mid-laugh. "I still loved the script. I just couldn't stop reading it, which is insane and how it's been with all of Zach's scripts [Resident Evil included]. They keep feeling fresh, and they keep going into new territory." Below, during a recent spoiler conversation with THR, Abrams also discusses why he pities his Weapons character, as well as the on-set story behind his instantly beloved reference to Willow. *** Part of me was hoping you'd be doing this interview from the innards of a whale, but I appreciate that you were able to squeeze this in on your one day off from Whalefall. (Laughs.) Yeah, I needed a break from inside the whale. Warner Bros. Pictures You were part of the Weapons cast when it was a completely different ensemble. The strike then affected Pedro Pascal's schedule, and Zach had to start over except for you. Did you just get lucky to not have any other conflicts? No, not necessarily. I just wanted to do Weapons. When I first saw Barbarian in the theaters, I didn't really know what I was walking into. I didn't know about Zach. I didn't know about the movie at all. I just thought it was going to be a regular horror movie, and I wasn't super excited going into it. But my friend wanted to go, and I was like, "Sure, I'll go." So I knew nothing about the movie, and when I saw the first shot, I was like, "Okay, that's kind of sick." The camera went through