By now, every Resident Evil fan knows that Resident Evil 9: Requiem is shaping up to be a chilling return to the franchise’s survival horror roots. But what some might not know is that Capcom seriously considered bringing back the fan-favorite one-liner machine and professional suplexer of zombies, Leon S. Kennedy, as the main character. That is, until they remembered one inconvenient truth: Leon isn’t scared of anything anymore. And that’s a problem when you’re trying to make your audience crap their pants.
During Thursday’s Capcom Spotlight event, Game Director Koshi Nakanishi explained that while Leon was very much in the running to headline the next installment, he ultimately just wasn’t a good tonal fit. “We always thought about making Leon the protagonist but making a horror game based around him is difficult,” Nakanishi said. He wouldn’t jump at something like a bucket falling. No one wants to see Leon scared by every little thing. So he’s actually a bad match for horror.”
And he’s right. At this point in the series, Leon’s résumé includes fighting off Las Plagas cultists, B.O.W. giants, infected presidents’ daughters, and whatever the hell Salazar was. Drop him in a haunted hotel and he’s more likely to make a sarcastic comment rather than express fear. His years of elite fieldwork and stylish hair-flips may make him great for action, but they make it nearly impossible to build the kind of slow-burn dread Capcom is aiming for with Requiem.
Enter Grace Ashcroft: a total newcomer with a tragic family connection to the Resident Evil universe and absolutely zero combat experience. Grace isn’t clearing rooms with dual pistols—she’s an office drown who ends up walking down dark and damp hallways hoping the weird noise she just heard isn’t something trying to eat her. And when she bumps into a mop bucket, she doesn’t coolly roll her eyes and reload—she jumps, just like you do. That shared sense of vulnerability is exactly what Capcom is banking on to pull players back into the fear-soaked atmosphere that made the franchise iconic in the first place.
It also doesn’t hurt that Requiem takes place in the Wrenwood Hotel—the very site where Grace’s mother, investigative journalist Alyssa Ashcroft (from Resident Evil Outbreak), met her grisly end. Add in the fact that Requiem is set well into the future, and Leon would realistically be pushing his mid-50s. Sure, older Leon could still kick ass and be a total silver fox, but the vibe Capcom wants isn’t John Wick at a retirement home, it’s you’re trapped, you’re powerless, and you might not make it out.
That said, it’s not like Capcom has thrown Leon—and Claire, for that matter—into the trash compactor of forgotten characters. Teasers have shown a decapitated Raccoon City Police Department logo, and the story revisits the crater where Raccoon City once stood. With connections like that, it’s entirely possible we’ll see a cameo or two from survivors of the original nightmare. But if they do show up, don’t expect them to be center stage. This time, the horror isn’t coming for someone who’s seen it all—it’s coming for someone who’s seen nothing and isn’t ready for what’s next.
Leon may be bulletproof in spirit, but Grace? She’s breakable. And that’s what makes her perfect for a true Resident Evil nightmare.
